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SCANDINAVIAN RELATIONS
WITH IRELAND DURING
THE VIKING PERIOD
SCANDINAVIAN RELATIONS
WITH IRELAND DURING
THE VIKING PERIOD
BY
A. WALSH *•
BOSTON COTXKGli Ut*'\^^
CHESTNUT HILL, MASS.
DUBLIN
THE TALBOT PRESS LIMITED
LONDON
T. FISHER UNWIN UMITHD
1922
151^147
PREFACE
This short study was written duritjg my tenure of a
Travelling StudentsHp from the National University of
Ireland, and in March, 1920, was accepted for the Research
Degree Certificate of Cambridge University.
A glance at the bibliography shows that comparatively
little has been written in English on this interesting period
of our history. On the other hand modem Scandinavian
scholars — Alexander Bugge, Marstrander, and Vogt — have
thrown a good deal of Hght on the subject, but unfortunately
very few of their books have been translated into English.
The present dissertation is based principally upon the Old
and Middle Irish annals and chronicles and the Icelandic
sagas ; reference has also been made to the work of
Scandinavian, EngUsh and Irish scholars on the subject.
I should Hke to acknowledge my debt to Professor
Chadwick, who directed my work : those who have had the
privilege of working under him will readily understand how
much is due to his encouragement and stimulating criticism.
I wish also to express my thanks to my friends, Miss N.
Kershaw and Mr. E. J. Thomas, for many kindnesses while
the book was in preparation ; to Miss Eleanor Hull and
Professor O'Maille, University College, Galway, for the
loan of books ; and to the Librarian and staff of Cambridge
University Library, the National Library, Dublin, and
T.C.D. Library.
A.W.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface
Chap.
I. The Vikings in Irei^and (795-1014) 1
II. Intercourse between the Gaii<i, and the Gaedhil
DURING the Viking Period 10
III. The Growth of the Seaport Towns 21
IV. The Expansion oE Irish Trade 29
V. ShipbuiIvDing and Seafaring 35
VI. Linguistic Infi^uences 40
(a) Loan-words from Old Norse in Irish.
(b) Gaelic Words in Old Norse Literature.
(c) Irish Influence on Icelandic Place-nomenclature.
VII. The Vikings and the Cei^tic Church 47
VIII. Literary Infi^uence. The Sagas of Icei<and and
IrEI/And 57
Bibuography 77
Scandinavian Relations with Ireland
during the Viking Period.
CHAPTER I.
THE VIKINGS IN IRELAND (795-1014).
The Vikings made their first appearance ^ ou the Irish
coasts in 795 a.d., when they plundered and burned the
church on Recru, or Lambay Island, near Dubhn. During
the next ten or twelve years Ireland seems to have been
almost free from further attacks, but in 807 they descended
on Inis Murray, off the SHgo coast, and from there made
their way inland to Roscommon.* x^fter that the raids
ceased for a few years, then began again with renewed
vigour on Connacht and IMunster, on some of the inland
counties of I^einster, and on several places along the east
coast.*
The arrival of Turgeis* (O.N. Thorgestr) in Armagh, about
832, marks a new phase of the invasions. Hitherto the
Vikings had come in isolated parties solely for purposes
^ Zimmer was of the opinion that the Norsemen made their way
to Ireland as earl}^ as the seventh century. He bases his theory
on an entry in the Annals of Ulster and in certain other Irish annals
(under the year 617) recording " the devastation of Tory Island
by a marine fleet." {liber die friihesten Be/uhrungen der Iren niit
den Nordgermanen, p. 279 ff. in Sitzungshevichte der kgJ. prenssischen
Akademie der Wissenschaften. 1891. Bd. I., pp. 279-317.) But this
attack is likely to have been due to Saxon or Pictish raiders rather
than to the Norsemen,
^Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 807.
^Annals of Ulster, a.d. 811, 820-824, 827, 830.
* Some writers would identify Turgeis with Thorgils, son of Harold
Fairhair, who with his brother Frothi went on a viking expedition
to Ireland. They captured Dublin, and Thorgils reigned there for
a long time as king. In the end, however, he was betrayed by the
2 THE VIKING PERIOD
of plunder ; nor, however, " great sea-cast floods of
foreigners " landed in every harbour, and began to form
settlements in various parts of the island. Dublin was first
occupied in 836, and four years later the Norsemen
strengthened their position there considerably by the erection
of a longphort or fortress. From their longphort at Ivinn
Duachaill (between Drogheda and Dundalk) built in the
same year, they made their way to the West and plundered
Clonmacnois, while settlers from Cael-uisce, near Newry
went south and laid waste County Kildare.^
The power of Turgeis was not confined to the north of
Ireland. His fleets were stationed on I^och Ree, the centre
from which Meath and Connacht were devastated. His
wife, Ota (O.N. Authr), desecrated the monastery of
Clonmacnois by giving her oracular responses {a frecartha)
from the high altar.* The tyranny of Turgeis came to an
end in 845, when he was captured by Maelsechnaill, who
afterwards became drd-ri, and was drowned in Lough Owel.'
After his death the tide of battle turned in favour of the
Irish, and the Norsemen were defeated in several battles.
Weakened by warfare, they had to contend in 849 with an
enemy from without — the Dubh-Gaill^ or Danes who had
Irish and was killed. ( Heimskvingla : Haralds saga hins hdrfagra,
ch. 35-)
This account of Tliorgils certainly bears a resemblance to that
of Turgeis contained in the Irish chronicles and Giraldus
Cambrensis (cf. Todd : Introduction to War of the Gaedhll with
the Gain, I., ii.), but it is of course incorrect to say that Turgeis
was a son of Harold Fairhair.
^Annals of Ulster, a.d. 841.
^War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 13.
^Ib.,v. 15-
* The Irish chroniclers use a variety of names for the Scandinavians :
Dihearccai (outlaws), Gaill (foreigners), Gennti (Gentiles), and
Pagdnaigh (Pagans). They also distinguish between Danes and
Norsemen. The Danes were known as Danair, Danmarcaigh, Dubh
THE VIKINGS IN IRELAND 3
sailed round the south coast of England and landed in
Ireland " to exercise authority over the foreigners who
were there before them." Two years after their arrival the
newcomers plundered the fortresses at Dublin and Dundalk,
but were attacked in the following year on Carhngford
Loch by the Norsemen. In this great naval battle, which
lasted three days and three nights, the Danes ^vere finally
victorious. 1
" Amhlaoibh Conung, son of the King of Lochlann,"
known in Icelandic sources as Olaf the White, came to
Ireland about 852 to rule over his countr^^men, and to exact
tribute from the Irish. ^ According to the Fragments of
Annals, he left suddenly and returned a few years later
accompanied by his " younger brother, Imhar," Who may
be identified with Ivarr Beinlausi {i.e., " the Boneless ")
son of Ragnarr IvOthbr(5k. Both kings ruled from Dublin,
which town now gained a new importance as the seat of
the Scandinavian Kings in Ireland. In 865 the Vikings
extended their activities to Scotland, whence they carried
off much plunder and many captives. An expedition on a
larger scale was made by Olaf and Ivarr in 869, when Dum-
barton, after a four months' siege, fell into their hands.
They returned in triumph to Ireland in the follo^^dng year
with a large number of English, British, and Pictish prisoners
Gennti (Black Gentiles), and Dubh-Gaill. The vcord Dtcbh-GaiU
(Black Foreigners) still survives in the personal names Doyle and
MacDowell and in the place-name Baldoyle. The Norsemen were
called Finn-Gaill (Fair Foreigners), Finn-Genti, Nortmannai (Lat.
Northmanni) and Lochlannaigh {i.e., men of Lochlann or Norway).
'^Annals of Ulster, a.d. 851 (= 852),
^ Three Fragments of Annals, p. 127.
Vogt {Dublin som Norsk By, p. 66) suggests that Olaf was related
to Turgeis, the first Norse King of Ireland, and to Karl Tomrair
(O.N, Thorarr), " ianist of the King of I,ochlann/' who fell in the
battle of Scaith Neachtain (847). On the other hand it may be noted
here that the Annalist errs in making Olaf a brother of Ivarr the
Boneless.
4 THE VIKING PERIOD
and ended their victorious march by the capture ot
Dunseverick (Co. Antrim).^
Olaf returned to Norway some time after this to take
part in the wars there, ^ and we hear no more of him in the
Irish Annals. " Imhar, King of the Norsemen of all Ireland
and Biitain," did not long survive him ; his death is recorded
under the year 873.^
During the years which followed Ivarr's death the country
was comparatively peaceful, and the Irish began to enjoy
a rest from fresh invasions, which lasted about forty 3^ears.*
The Danes and the Norsemen again began to quarrel among
themselves, and once more their opposing fleets met on
Carlingford Lough ;^ in this battle Albann (O.N. Halfdanr),
brother of Ivarr, a well-known leader of the Vikings in
England, was slain. Dissensions also spread among the
ranks of the Dubhn Norsemen, dividing them into two
hostile parties, one siding with Sitriucc, son of Ivarr, the
other with a certain Sighfrith.^ This internal strife so
'^Annals of Ulster, a.d, 870.
^Three Fragments of Annals, p. 195. The Landfidmabok, XL, ch.
15 says that " Olaf fell in battle in Ireland," but this is surely a
mistake.
^Annals of Ulster, sub anno, 872 (= 873).
* Cf. War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 27. Cf. also the entries
in the Annals of Ulster :
" Ruaidhri, son of Muirmenn King of the Britons came to
Ireland, fleeing before the Black Foreigners " (an. 876).
" The shrine of Colum-Cille and all his relics were brought to
Ireland to escape the Foreigners " (an. 877).
■ The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill (p. 27) mentions another
battle between Fair and Black Gentiles, in which many of the latter
were killed.
• It is extremely difficult to identify these two princes owing to
the similarity between their names. It has been suggested that
Sighfrith is the Siefredus or Sievert who ruled jointly with Guthred-
Cnut (d.c. 894) as King of Northumbria, while Sitriucc son of Ivarr is
probably the " Sitric comes " whose name appears on a coin dating
from this period. (See A. Mawer : The Scandinavian Kingdom of
Northumbria, pp. 11-13. Saga-book of the Vikmg Club, VII. Part I.)
THE VIKIXGS IN IRELAND 5
weakened Norse power that the Irish captured the fortress
at Dublin in 902, and drove the Vikings across the sea
with great slaughter.
The forty years' rest terminated abruptly in 913, when
several fleets arrived at Waterford and proceeded to ravage
all Munster and Leinster. In 916 Raghnall (O.N.
Rognvaldr), grandson of Ivarr, assumed command while
his brother or cousin, Sihtric Gale (also nicknamed Caoch,
* the Blind ') came with a fleet to Cenn Fuaid, in the east of
Ivcinster, and built a fortification there. ^ Both chiefs
united forces against the drd-ri Niall Glundubh, and having
defeated him in battle Sihtric entered Dublin and became
king (918). In the following year the Irish under Niall
made a brave stand at Kilmashogue, near Dublin, but
Sihtric won a decisive victory, and Niall and twelve other
kings were among the slain. 2
Scandinavian power in Ireland was now at its height.
Large fleets occupied all the lakes in Ulster, so that no
part of the surrounding territory was safe from their attacks. *
The Vikings also retained their grip of the coast towns, and
successfully withstood the efforts made by the Irish leaders
to dislodge them. Between the years 920 and 950 the
importance of Dublin increased considerably through its
connection with the Scandinavian Kingdom of Northumbria.
Raghnall, grandson of Ivarr, captured York about 919* and
reigned there until his death in 921.^ He was succeeded
'^Annals of Ulster, a.d. 916.
^Annals of Ulster, a.d, 918. War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill,
p. 37. An entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (a.d. 921), referring
to the result of this battle, runs : — " In this year King Sihtric slew
his brother Niel." There is, however, no evidence in Irish sources
that Sihtric and Niall were brothers, or even half-brothers.
^Annals of Ulster, a.d. 920, 921, 923, 925.
* Anglo- Sax on Chronicle, A.D. 923.
'^Annals of Ulster, a.d 920.
C
6 THE VIKING PERIOD
by Sihtric Gale, who had been expelled from DubHn in the
preceding year/ probably by his brother, Guthfrith. After
Sihtric's death in 927 Guthfrith, King of Dublin (d. 934),
with the Vikings of Dundalk, left Ireland in order to secure
his own succession in York, but he would seem to have
been driven out by Aethelstan, for the Irish Annals mention
his return to Dublin after an absence of six months.*
Guthfrith's son, Olaf, came forward about this time.
Supported by the Norsemen of Strangford I^ough he
plundered Armagh, but his subsequent attacks on Ulster
were checked by Muirchertach MacNeill, son of Niall
Glundubh. Olaf fought in alliance with Constantine in the
battle of Brunanburh (937), and after the defeat inflicted
on them by Aethelstan's forces he fled to DubHn.* He is
probably the " Anlaf of Ireland " who was chosen King
by the Northumbrians in 941,* but he died about a year
later. '^
Another Olaf, the famous Olaf Cuaran, also called
Sihtricsson to distinguish between them, also played an
important part in campaigns in Ireland and England. He
went to York about 941, and was elected king by the
Northumbrians, but was expelled after a few years along
with Raegenald, son of Guthfrith.^ He then took the DubHn
Kingdom under his rule, and in the following year was
defeated in battle by the Irish at Slaine (Co. Meath). lycaving
his brother Guthfrith to govern in his stead, he departed
to York, where he became king a second time ; but the
Northumbrians drove him out after three years and placed
^Annals of Ulster, a.d. 919.
2 76., A.D. 927.
^ lb., A.D. 937. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. A. Annal, 937.
* Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, D. Annal 941.
^ lb., E. Annal 942; Annals of Clonmacnoise, A.D. 934.
^Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, A. Annal 944.
THE VIKINGS IN IRELAND 7
" Yric, son of Harald " {i.e., Eric Bloodaxe, late King of
Norway) on the throne.^
Henceforward Olaf limited his activities to Ireland,
where he reigned, the most famous of the Dublin Kings,
for some thirty years. In gSo, having summoned auxiliaries
from the Scottish isles and Man, he prepaied to attack the
drd-ri, Maelsechnaill II. A fierce battle was fought between
them at Tara in which the Norse armies were completely
routed, Olaf's son Raghnall being among the slain. Mael-
sechnaill followed up this victory by a three days' siege
of DubHn, after which he carried off a number of hostages
from the Norsemen, and also obtained from them 2,000
kine, together with jewels and various other treasures.*
Olaf himself, utterly disheartened by his defeat, went on
pilgrimage to lona, where he died soon after.
Some fifteen 3^ears before, a severe blow had been struck
at the power of the Limerick Vikings under Ivarr, grandson
of Ivarr and his sons. The attack made on them at Sulcoit
(968) by two princes of the Dal Cais, the brothers
Mathgamain and Brian, resulted in victory for the Irish,
who took lyimerick shortly after. ^ Mathgamain was
treacherously murdered in 976, and Brian then became
King of Thomond. He soon brought the Kingdoms of
Ossory and Leinster under his control, and by the terms
of a treaty made in 998 Maelsechnaill consented to leave
Brian master of Leth Mogha {i.e., the southern half of
Ireland). The Leinstermen under King Maelmordha,
dissatisfied with this arrangement, began to make tiouble
and revolted, assisted by the Dublin Norsemen. An import-
ant victory was gained over their combined armies at
^Anglo-Saxon Ch/onicle, E. Annals 949, 952.
* Annals of the Four Masters, a.d. 978, 979; Annals of Ulster,
A.D. 979 (= 980).
^War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 77.
8 THE VIKING PERIOD
Gleann Mama (Co. Wicklow) in the year looo by Brian,
who after the battle captured Dublin. King Sihtric (O.N.
Sigtryggr), son of Olaf Guar an, had to submit to Brian's
authority. Having accepted his allegiance Brian married
Gormflaith, mother of Sihtric and sister of Maelmordha,
and at the same time gave his own daughter to Sihtric
in marriage.^
Brian became drd-ri in 1002, and after that for about
twelve years there was peace. Towards the end of that
time Gormflaith, who had meanwhile separated from her
husband, incited her brother Maelmordha to make war on
Brian. Maelmordha and Sihtric began to gather forces for
the coming struggle. Sihtric at his mother's command
sought the aid of Sigurthr, Earl of Orkney and of Brodar,*
a Viking whose fleet then lay off the west coast of Man.
Fleets also came from Norway^ and Iceland to help their
kinsmen. The armies under Brian and Maelsechnaill
marched towards Dublin, and having encamped near
Kilmainham set fire to the district of Fingal {i.e., Fine Gall,
" the Foreigners' territory ") north of the city. The two
armies met at Clontarf on Good Friday morning and the
battle, one of the most famous ever fought on Irish soil,
raged all that day. The Norsemen suffered a severe defeat,
and in attempting to fly for refuge to their ships were
slaughtered by Maelsechnaill at Dubhgall's Bridge, near
the Four Courts. Brian himself did not take part in the
fight, but he was slain in his tent by Brodar after the battle. *
^ War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill_ p. 115 ; Annals of the Four
Masters, a.d. 997.
^Var of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 153. Njdls Saga, ch. 155.
In the Annals of Loch Ci (A.D. 1014) Brodar is called the earl of
York {iarla Caoire Eabhroigh).
^War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 151.
*/&., pp. 151-191 ; Njdls Saga, chs. 155-157, Annals of Loch
Qi, AD. 1014 ; Annals of the Four Masters, a.d. 1013.
THE VIKINGS IN IRELAND 9
After the Battle of Clontarf the Norsemen became
gradually absorbed in the general population except in a
few coast towns, where they continued to live more or
less distinct and governed by petty kings until the English
Invasion (1169). In the chronicles of the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries they are generally alluded to as
"Ostmen" (corruptly Hoiistmanni, Nosmani, etc.),^ and it
would seem that when Dublin, Limerick, and Waterford
were captured by the English the " Ostmen " had to with-
draw to certain districts outside the walls of these towns.
Thus, near Dublin, north of the River lyiffey, we hear of
Ostmaneby^ {i.e., Austmannabyr) afterwards called Ostman-
stonry, and now known as Oxmanstown. Mention is also
made (c. 1200) of a " ' cantred ' of the Ostmen and holy
isle," near Limerick and (c. 1282) of a " vill of the Ostmen "^
near Waterford.* In the records of the fourteenth century,
however, there is an almost total absence of references to
the " Ostmen " in Ireland.^
^Calendar of the Ancient Records of Dublin (ed. by J. T. Gilbert),
II. 81 ; Chartularies of St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin (ed. by Gilbert), I.
258; II. 251 ; Giraldus Cambrensis : Topographia Hibernica, V. 187.
The name " Ostmen " is generally supposed to have been first
given to them by the English, but the word is Norse {i.e., Austnienn,
plural of Austmathv, " a man living in the East ") and therefore
must have been current in Ireland before the Enghsh invasion. It
may be suggested that the name was applied to the original
Scandinavian settlers in Ireland, to merchants and other later comers
from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Cf. the moknavae Austmathv ,
given to a certain Eyvindr by the Scandinavian settlers in the
Hebrides because he had come there from Sweden.
^Chartulayies of St. Mary's Abbey, I. 267 ; ib., I. 227, 234, etc.;
Calendar of the Ancient Records of Dublin, I. 55; II. 96.
^A Calendar of Documents Relating to Ireland (ed. by H. S.
Sweetman), I. 24.
*/&., II. p. 426.
* For interesting articles on the Ostmen in Ireland see A. Bugge :
Sidste Afsnit af Nordboernes Historic i Irland, pp. 248-315 (Aarb ger
for nord. Oldk. 1900) ; and E. Curtis : The English and the Ostmen
tn Inland (English Historical Review, XXIII., p. 209 £f.).
10 THE VIKIKG PERIOD
CHAPTER II.
INTERCOURSE BETWEEN THE GAILL AND
THE GAEDHIL DURING THE VIKING
PERIOD.
The existence of the Gaill-Gaedhil or foreign Irish in Ulster
and various parts of Minister^ during the years 854-856
shows that even in the early part of the ninth century
there must have been considerable intercourse between the
Vikings and the native population. For some of the Gaill-
Gaedhil were partly of Irish, partly of Norse extraction ;
others, as the annalist expHcitly states, were Irishmen who
had been fostered by the Norsemen, and in consequence
had forsaken Christian practices and lapsed into Paganism.*
From a chance allusion in a tenth century text^ it
would seem that they could speak Gaelic, but so badly
that the expiession " the gicgog of a Gall-Gaedheal " was
generally understood to mean halting or broken Gaelic.
They are mentioned in the Annals for the first time* in
854, in which year Aedh Finnliath, King of Aileach, won
^Annals of Ulster, A.D. 855, 856; Annals of the Four Masters,
A.D. 856.
^Three Fragments of Annals, pp. 128, 129; 138, 139.
^ Airec Menmam Uraird Maic Coisse, sec. 29 (Marstr^der :
Bidrag til det Norske Sprogs Historie i Irland, p. 10).
* With the Gaill-Gaedhil are often identified a body of plunderers,
members of Meath and Cavan clans, who in the year 845 devastated
large tracts of territory " after the manner of the Gentiles " ( Annals
of Ulster, A.D. 845). The Annalists call them " sons of death " {mate
bdis), pos.sibly a term applied by the monastic chroniclers to a people
who had abandoned their Christian bapti.sm, and who had profaned
churclies and religious houses. (Cf. Marstrander, op. cit., p. 7, n.)
THE GAILL AND THE GAEDHIL H
a great victory over them in a battle fought at Glenelly,
in Tyrone. 1 After this they took an active part in the
Irish wars, fighting hke mercenaries on different sides — at
one time in alHance with the drd-ri, Maelsechnaill, who was
at war with the Norsemen \^ again, with an Irish clan
against the DubUn Vikings under Ivarr,^ and still later we
find them joined with the men of Waterford in opposition
to the drd-ri.'' I^ed by Caittil Find (O.N. Ketill + Ir. find
— fair) they made their last stand against the DubUn
Vikings under Olaf and Ivarr, but were defeated with heavy
losses, and after this there is no further record of their
activities in Ireland.*' On one occasion at least, they fought
^ Cf. Annals of the Four Masters, a.d. 854. Three Fragments of
Annals, a.d. 852, referring to the same event, mention the " fleet
of the Gaill-Gaedhil."
^Annals of Ulster, a.d. 855.
^Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 856.
^Fragments of Annals, a.d. 858.
'^ There was also a mixed Norse and Gaelic population in Galloway
(the word is a corruption of Gall-Gaedhil, Welsh Galwj^'del) as well as
in the Hebrides (Ir. Innse Gall., i.e., the "Islands of the Foreigners or
Norsemen ") and other parts of Scotland. There is a reference to
these Gaill-Gaedhill in t\iQ Four Masters (a.d. 1154) : "The Cinel
Eoghain and Muirchertach, son of Niall, sent persons over the sea
to hire the fleets of the Gaill-Gaedhil of Aran, Cantire and the Isle
of Man and the borders of Scotland in general, over which Mac
Sgelling was in command " (For other references see
Marstrander, op. cit., p. 9.)
By Gaddgethlar the Norsemen understood " the place . . . where
Scotland and England meet " (cf . Orkneyinga Saga, ch. 28). It is also
interesting to note that in Norse sources the inhabitants of Galloway
are called Vikinga-Skotar, a direct translation of Gaill-Gaedhil.
O'Flaherty {Ogygia, p. 360) thought that the Gaill-Gaedhil
mentioned in the Annals of the mid-ninth century came to Ireland
from Scotland, but the ancient Three Fragments of Annals, which
contain the fullest accounts of the Gaill-Gaedhil (pp. 138-141) speak
of them as Scuit {i.e., an Irish form of the Latin Scoti, a word which
is always used with reference to the Irish before the tenth century).
Moreover, the impression received from reading the Fragments of
Annals is that the Annalist had in his mind the Norse-Gaelic
population of Ireland, not of Scotlanc^.
12 THE VIKING PERIOD
with the Viking armies in England. According to the account
of the siege of Chester (c. 912) preserved in the Three
Fragments of Annals, many Irishmen, foster-children of
the Norsemen, formed part of the besieging army under the
chieftain Hingamund,i who had been expelled from DubUn
some time previously. To these Irishmen Aethelflaed, the
lady of the Mercians, sent ambassadors appeaUng to them
as " true and faithful friends " to abandon the " hostile
race of Pagans " and to assist the Saxons in defending the
city. The Irish then deserted their former alhes and joined
the Saxons, " and the reason they acted so towards the
Danes," adds the chronicler, " was because they were less
friendly with them than with the Norsemen." 2
The Vikings who formed settlements in Ireland during
the reign of Turgeis (839-845) seem to have mingled freely
with the Irish, for we find them not long after their arrival
stirring up the clans to rebellion against the drd-ri^ and
joining the native princes on plundering expeditions. The
annals mention several such alliances. Cinaedh, Prince of
Cranachta-Breagh, who had revolted against Maelsechnaill
with a party of plunderers, laid waste the country from the
Shannon eastward to the sea.* Another Irish prince, Lorcan,
Eling of Meath, accompanied Olaf and Ivarr when they
broke into the famous burial-mounds^ at New Grange,
Knowth and Dowth, on the Boyne, and carried ofi the
^ Ann. Camhriae, a.d. 902; (Steenstrup : Normannerne, III., pp.
37-41)-
^ Three Fragments of Annals, p. 230 fi.
* Annals of the Four Masters, a.d. 845, 852; Annals of Ulster,
A.D. 846. Three Fragments of Annals, a.d. 862.
^Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 848.
» The plundering of these burial-mounds — " a thing that had never
been done before " — made a deep impression en the Irish Annalists ;
it was thought that the Vikings discovered the existence of the
treasure b}' magic, " through paganism and idol worship " {War of
the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 115). The same source (p. 25) records
THE GAILL AND THE GAEDHIL 13
treasures which they found there. After the great naval
battle between Danes and Norsemen in Carlingford Lough
(a.d. 852) Danes and Irish frequently united forces against
the common enemy, and on one occasion — after the two
armies had won a victory over the Norsemen in Tipperary
— the Danish chieftain Horm and his men were escorted
in triumph to Tara where they were received with great
honour by the drd-ri^ Even after the arrival of Olaf the
White, who brought about a temporary reconciHation
between the two parties of " Foreigners," a detachment
of Danes remained on in the service of Cearbhall, King
of Ossory.2
The Irish chronicler, in alluding to the Norse practice
of billeting their soldiers in the Irish farmhouses, lays stress
on the feelings of hostiUty entertained by the Irish towards
this " wrathful, foreign, purely Pagan people." Yet, we
not infrequently find instances of friendly intercourse, as
in the well-known story of Olaf-Trygvason and the peasant.'
It appears that after Olaf's marriage to Gyda, sister of
Olaf Cuaran, he occasionally visited Ireland. Once he sailed
there with a large naval force, and being short of provisions
went on land with his men on a foraging expedition. They
the plundering of Kerry by Baraid (O.N. Barthr) and Olaf the White's
son " who left not a cave there underground that they did not explore."
Several references to this practice of the Vikings occur also in
Icelandic literature. It is interesting to compare the Irish accounts
with the following passage from Landnamabok (I., ch. 5) : " Leifr
(one of the earliest settlers in Iceland) went on a Viking raid to the
West. He plundered Ireland and found there a large underground
house (Icel. jarth-hus). It was dark within until he made his way
to a place where he saw a light shining from a sword which a man
held in his hand. Leifr slew the man ana took the sword and much
treasure besides."
"^ Three Fragments of Annals, p. 135.
2/&., p. 137.
^ Hiimskringla : dldfs Saga Tryggvasonar, ch. 35.
14 THE VIKING PERIOD
seized a large number of cows, and were driving them towards
the shore when a peasant ran after them and begged Olaf
to give him back his cows. Olaf told him to take them, if
he could separate them from the rest without delaying
their journey. The peasant had with him a large sheep-
dog, which he sent in among the herd, and the dog ran up
and down and drove off as many cows as the peasant
claimed. As they were all marked in the same way it was
evident that the dog knew all his master's cows. Then Olaf
asked if the peasant would give him the dog. " WilHngly,"
was the reply. So Olaf gave him in return a gold ring, and
assured him of his friendship. The dog was called Vigi,
" the best of all dogs," and Olaf had it for a long time.
Years later, after the great naval battle in which Olaf lost
his life, " Vigi lay on a mound and would take no food
from anyone, although he drove away other dogs and beasts
and birds from what was brought to him. . . . Thus he
lay till he died."i
Moreover, the evidence of both Norse and Irish sources
goes to show that all through the ninth and tenth centuries
there was extensive intermarriage between the two peoples.
Marriages of the invaders with the women whom they
had carried off as captives must have taken place from an
early period,* and we know definitely that the kings and
chieftains on both sides frequently strengthened their
alliances by unions between members of the royal families.
According to the Landndmabdk many distinguished Ice-
landers traced their descent to Kjarval, i.e., Cearbhall,
1 Cf. The story of Samr, {i.e., probably Jr. sam, " happy " or
" peaceful ") the Irish hound which Olaf Pai gave to Gunnarr.
Samr was killed while defending his master's homestead. {Njdls
Saga, chs. 69, 75.)
* Annals of the Four Masters, a.d. 820; Fragments of Annals,
p. 166 ; War of the Gaedhil with the Caill, p. 79 ; The Victorious
Career of Callachan of Cashel, p. 9.
THE GAILL AND THE GAEDHIL 15
King of Ossory (d. 887), an ally of Olaf and Ivarr. His
grandson, Dufthak (Ir. Dubhthach)* was the founder of an
Icelandic family, and three of his daughters, Kormloth (Ir.
Gormflaith),2 Frithgerth^ and Rafarta* married Norsemen.
The Landndmahdk speaks of Kjarval as having been King
of Dublin while " Alfred the Great ruled in England . . .
and Harold Fairhair in Norway,"^ a statement which is
often doubted because unsupported by the evidence of the
Irish historians ; but it is not at all unHkely, since Cearbhall
was remotely connected with the DubHn royal house through
his granddaughter Thurithr, who married Thorsteinn the
Red, son of Olaf the White. «
There is no mention of Authr, Olaf's Norse wife, in the
Annals, but we hear incidentally' that Olaf, while in Ireland,
married a daughter of Aedh FinnHath, King of Aileach.
After he became drd-ri (864) Aedh turned against the
Norsemen, and having plundered all their fortresses in
the north of Ireland marched towards Lough Foyle, where
they had assembled to give him battle. Aedh was victorious,
and some years after he again defeated the Foreigners,
who were at this time in alhance with his nephew Flann :
Flann himself and Carlus, son of Olaf the White being
^Landndmahdk, V., ch. 8.
2/6., v., ch. 13.
3/&., III., ch. 9.
* Ih., III., ch. 12. Rafarta was the wife of Eyvindr the Easterner,
" who settled down in Ireland and had charge of Kjarval's defences "
{ci. Grettis Saga, ch. 3). Ovkneyinga Saga (ch. 11.) makes Edna
(Ir. Eithne) another of Kjarval's daughters to be the mother of
Sigurthr, Earl of Orkney (killed in the battle of Clontarf, 1014) ;
but owing to the chronological difficulty this is hardly likely.
^Landndmahdk, I., ch. i.
6/6.. II., ch. 15.
"^ Three Fragments of Annals, p. 151. The same source (p. 173)
mentions still another wife of Olaf, " the daughter of Cinaedh,"
i.e., in all probability Cinaedh Mac Ailpin, King of the Picts (d. 858).
16 THE VIKING PERIOD
numbered among the slain. We also hear of other Irish
Kings who were closely related to their Viking opponents.
Laxdaela Saga contains an interesting account of a slave-
woman who was bought at a market in Norway by an
Icelander called Hoskuldr. The woman was dumb, but
Hoskuldr was so struck by her appearance that he willingly
paid for her three times the price of an ordinary slave,
and took her back with him to Iceland. A few years later,
happening to overhear her talking to their Httle son, Olaf
Pdi, he discovered to his amazement that her dumbness
was feigned. She then confessed that her name was
Melkorka (Ir. Mael-Curcaigh) and that she was the daughter
of Myr Kjartan, a king in Ireland, whence she had been
carried off as a prisoner of war when only fifteen years old.
When Olaf was grown up his mother urged him to visit
Ireland in order to estabHsh his relationship with King
Myr Kjartan, " for," she said, " I cannot bear your being
called the sou of a slave-woman any longer." Before they
parted she gave him a large finger-ring and said : " This
my father gave me for a teething-gift, and I know he will
recognise it when he sees it." She also put into his hands
a knife and belt and bade him give them to her nurse : " I
am sure she will not doubt these tokens." And still further
Melkorka spoke : " I have fitted 3^ou out from home as
best I know how, and taught you to speak Irish, so that it
will make no difference to you where you are brought to
shore in Ireland. . . ."^
The saga goes on to describe the voyage to Ireland, the
landing there, and Olaf's reception by King Myr Kjartan.
Myr Kjartan may be identified with Muirchertach " of
the Leather Cloaks," King of Aileach, who Hke his father
Niall Glundubh distinguished himself by his spirited
^Laxdaela Saga (translated by M.A.C. Press), chs. 12, 13, 20, 21.
THE GAILL AND THE GAEDHIL 17
resistance to Norse rule in the first half of the tenth century.*
Donnflaith, another of his daughters and mother of the
drd-ri, Maelsechnaill II., mairied Olaf Cuaran. Their son,
Gluniarainn, reigned in Dublin after his father's retirement
to lona, and appears to have been on friendly terms with
Maelsechnaill. * The relationship between these two families
becomes more complicated owing to the fact that
Maelsechnaill's own wife, Maelmuire (d. 102 1), was a
daughter of Olaf.^
But perhaps no figure stands out so prominently in the
Irish and Norse chronicles* of the second half of the tenth
century as Gormflaith (O.N. Kormloth) who first married
Olaf Cuaran, then his enemy Maelsechnaill II., and finally
Brian Borumha, from whom she also separated.
The interchange of family and personal names which took
place to such an extent during the Viking period also points
to the close connection between the foreigners and the
Irish. As early as 835 mention is made of one Gofraidh
(O.N. Guthrothr), son of Fergus, who went to Scotland from
Ireland in order to strengthen the Dal Riada and died some
time after as King of the Hebrides.'* The Dublin Viking
who led an attack on Armagh in 895 had an Irish name,
Glun-iarainn, obviously a translation of O.N. Jarn-kni.
He was in all probability a relative of lercne or Jargna
(corrupt forms of Jarn-kne) who ruled in conjunction with
^ The Annals of the Four Masters record his death under the year
941 : " Muirchertach of the Leather Cloaks, lord of Aileach, the
Hector of the West of Europe in his time, was slain at Ardee by
Blacaire, son of Godfrey, lord of the Foreigners."
Muirchertach's grandson was killed by Olaf Cuaran. ( lb., A.D. 975).
2ife., A.D. 981.
^ lb., A.D. I02I.
*War of the Gaedhii with the Gaill, p. 142 ff. ; Njdls Saga, chs.
153. 154-
^ Annais 0^ the Four Masters, ad. 851.
18 THE VIKING PERIOD
Zain or §tain (O.N. Steinn) as King of Dublin (c. 850) ;*
while other earls of DubHn, Otir mac Eirgni,* Eloir mac
Brgni or Largni^ and Gluntradna, son of Glun-Iarainn
would also appear to have been of the same royal family.*
Irish names occur more frequently in Norse families during
the tenth and eleventh centuries ; we find Uathmaran, son
of Earl Bairith (O.N. Barthr) ; Camman,^ son of Olaf
Godfreyson ; GioUa Padraig, Dubhcenn^ and Donndubhan,
sons of King Ivarr of Limerick ;' Niall, son of Erulb (O.N.
Herjulfr) ; Cuallaidh, son of King Ivarr of Waterford ;
Eachmarach, and very many others.® On the other hand,
we may note the prevalence of such common Norse names
as Ivarr, Guthrothr, Sumariithi among the Irish, espedally
in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Several of these
names still survive, as, for instance, MacAuliffe (O.N.
Olafr) ; MacCaffrey (O.N. Guthothr) ; MacCalmont or
'^Three Fragments of Annals, pp. 119, 123. Annals of Ulster,
A.D. 852.
^Chronicon Scotorum, a.d. 883.
3 /&., 886 ; Annals of Ulster, a.d. 885.
* See A. Bugge : Nor disk Sprog og Nor disk Nationalitet, i Irland,
pp. 284, 285. Profe.:>sor Marstrander {op. cit., pp. 45, 46) takes
Gluntradna to be an Irish adaptation of an O.N. nickname Tronu- Kne,
to which he compares Tronuheina, the daughter of Thraell, in the
Rigsthitla, 9.
^ Cf . the name Grimr Kamban [Landndmahok , Hauksbok MS.,
ch. 19) which seems to be a Norse form of the Irish Camman.
* According to A. Bugge, Duhhcenn is a translation of the O.N.
Svarthofthi, but Marstrander [op. cit., p. 45) holds that the name was
known in Ireland before the Viking age. It may be suggested that it
was a nickname given to Ivarr's son by the Irish. Cf. Olaf Guar an
(Ir. cuaran, a shoe made of skin) ; Olaf Genncairech [i.e., " Scabby-
head.")
' Their mother was an Irishwoman, sister of Donnabhan, King of
Ui Fidgenti. Donnabhan himself was married to a daughter of
Ivarr, King of I^imerick. [War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 207).
* Annals of the Four Masters, a.d. 931 ; Annals of Ulster, a.d. 960,
1036, 1042, etc. See also Whitley Stokes : On the Gaelic Names in the
Landndmabdk (Revue Celtigue, III., pp. 186- 191).
THE OAILL AND THE GAEDHIL ^ 19
Lamont (O.N. I^gmathr) ; Kettle (O.N. Ketill) ; Kitterick
(? Ir. Mac+N. Sigtryggr) ; MacKeever (O.N. Ivarr) ;
Manus and MacManus (O.N. Magnus) ; Quistan (Ir. Mac. +
O.N. Eysteinn) ; Reynolds (O.N. Rognvaldr) ; Sigerson
(O.N. Sigurtbr) and MacSorley (O.N. Sumarlithi).
Both Gain and Gaedhil, so dissimilar in many ways,
benefited by their intercourse with one another. In Ireland
the Vikings played an important part in the development
of trade ; they also promoted the growth of town Ufe. We
may trace the beginnings of the seaport towns, DubHn,
Limerick, Waterford and Wexford, to the forts built by
them near the large harbours in the ninth and tenth
centuries. In DubUn coins were minted for the first time
in Ireland^ during the reign of Sihtric Silken Beard (c.
989-1042). Moreover, the large number of loan-words from
Old Norse which made their way into Irish shows that the
Irish learned in many other ways from the invaders, notably
in shipbuilding and navigation.
So far as literature and art are concerned, the period of
the Viking occupation is one of the most interesting in the
history of Ireland. In spite of the destruction of the
monasteries and the departure of numbers of the monks ^
1 From the contemporary Irish poems the Book of Rights and The
Curcuit of Muirchertach Mac Neill it may be inferred that in ancient
Ireland all payments were made in kind. With the extension of
trade, however, it is probable that many Anglo-Saxon and other
foreign coins — including those of the Scandinavian Kings of North-
umbria, several of whom also reigned in Ireland — came to be circulated
in Ireland. The Vikings in England struck coins there during the
reign of Halfdanr (d. 877). (Cf. C. F. Keary : Catalogue of Coins in
the British Museum, I., p. 202).
* One of these fugitives wrote the following lines on the margin
of Priscian's Latin Grammar in the monastery of St. Gall, Switzerland:
" Is acher ingaith innocht fufuasna fairge findfolt.
Ni agor reimm mora minn dond laechraid lainn na lothlind."
{Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus. Ed. Stokes and Stracban, II., 290.)
20 THE VIKING PERIOD
to the Continent the work of the great schools was carried
on and there was considerable Hterary activity ;^ in 914
and 924, respectively, the great crosses at Clonmacnois
and Monasterboice were set up ; cumhdachs, or book-shrines
of plated gold and silver, were made for the three great
manuscripts, the Book of Kells, the Book of Durrow and the
Book of Armagh ; carved gold, silver, and bronze work
reached a high level of excellence in the famous Ardagh
Chalice and the Tara Brooch ; and during the years which in-
tervened between the battles of Gleann Mama and Clontarf ,
Romanesque architecture was introduced into Ireland.
Irish art did not remain wholly free from Scandinavian
influence. In the Cross of Cong (a.d. 1123) the Celtic inter-
laced patterns are found side by side with the " worm-
dragon " ornament, while the crosier of Clonmacnois, the
psalter of Ricemarsh and the shrine of St. Patrick's Bell
are decorated in the style known as " Hibemo-Danish."*
The Vikings, on the other hand, came under the influences
of Irish art and hterature. We find marks of Celtic influence
not only in the sculptured crosses erected by the Norsemen
in the North of England and Man, but even in Scandinavia
itself.^ Moreover, there are strong reasons for supposing
that the rise of the prose saga among the Icelanders may
be the outcome of their intercourse with the Irish in the
ninth and tenth centuries.
t.e., Bitter is the wind to-night,
It tosses the ocean's white hair ;
To-night I fear not the fierce warriors of Norway
Coursing on the Irish Sea.
(Translation by Kuno Meyer : Ancient Irish Poetry, p. loi.)
* See Margaret Stokes : Early ChrUtian Architecture in Ireland,
p. 127.
2 G. Coffey: A Guide to the Celtic Antiquities of the Christian
Period (National Museum, Dublin) pp. 29, 49 and 62.
^ lb., p. 17.
CHAPTER III.
THE GROWTH OF THE SEAPORT TOWNS.
The foundation of the seaport towns was the most important,
and at the same time the most permanent effect of the
Viking invasion of Ireland. Before this the only towns
were the larger monastic centres^ at Armagh, Clonmacnois,
Durrow and Clonfert, which, besides the monastery itself,
consisted of numerous beehive-shaped houses of stone, or
small huts of clay and wattles built for the accommodation
of the students attending the schools. During the first
half of the ninth century these monasteries suffered sorely
from the attacks of Viking raiders. After a stubborn
resistance on the part of the Irish, Armagh fell into the hands
of Turgeis, who drove out the abbot Farannan and " usurped
the abbacy " (c. a.d. 839). Some years later Armagh was
abandoned when the Vikings captured DubHn, at this time
a small " town by the hurdle ford,"^ but they were quick
to reaHse its possibiHties as the seat of their monarchy and
the chief centre of their trade. As a result of the struggle
for ecclesiastical supremacy, which took place at a later
period 3 between Armagh and DubHn, the Bishops of Dubhn
were obliged to acknowledge the Primate of Armagh ;
^ In the Annais of Tighernach (a.d. 716), the Annals of Ulster
(A.D. 715), and the Book of Hymns (ed. Todd, p. 156) the Latin
civitas (Li. Cathair) is the word used for a monastery.
* The old name for Dublin was Baile-atha-Cliath, "the town of
the hurdle ford." It was afterwards called Dubh-linn (" black pool "),
of which the O.N. Dyflin is a corruption,
8 See p. 55.
31
22 THE VIKING PERIOD
but the latter town never recovered its former prestige as
the capital of Ireland.^
That Dublin owes its importance, if not its origin, to the
Norsemen may be inferred from the almost total silence of
the historians and annalists regarding it in the years preced-
ing the Scandinavian inroads. It is probable that there
was a fort to guard the hurdle-ford where the great road
from Tara to Wicklow, Arklow and Wexford crossed the
lyiffey, but it seems to have played no great part in history
before the Norsemen fortified it in 840. Between Church
Lane and Suffolk Street they had their Things or meeting-
place, which was still to be seen in the seventeenth century ;
while all along College Green, called Le Hogges'' and later
Hoggen Green by the EngHsh, lay their barrows (O.N.
haugar). During the ninth and tenth centuries the Kingdom
of DubHn — known to the Scandinavians as Dyflinarski —
became one of the most powerful in the west. Its sway
extended north to its colonies* at the Strangford and
^ Armagh is the only place in Ireland which is marked on a tenth
century map of the world preserved in the British Museum. See
R. A. S. Macalister : Muiredach : Abbot of Monasterboice,
P- 13-
* It is called Tengmonth and Teggemiita in medieval documents
{Chartularies of St. Mary's Abbey, I., 15, 461, 463, 465) and from
it the surrounding parish of St. Andrew — " Parochia Sancti Andreae
de Thengmote " — took its name. In 1647 it is referred to as ' the
fortified hill near the College," but about thirty years later it was
levelled to the ground and the earth was used for building Nassau
Street (J. T. Gilbert • History of Dublin, II , p. 258).
3 The name survived until the 1 8th century in Hog Hill, but it
was afterwards changed to St. Andrew's Street.
*■ Annals of Ulster, a.d. 839, 840, 925, 928, 934.
These colonies were governed by earls, not kings, and their
dependency on the kingdom of Dublin is clearly shown by certain
entries in the Annals. In 926 a Viking fleet at Linn Duachaill (on
the coast of Louth) was commanded by Albdarn (O.N. Halfdanr),
son of Guthfrith (King of Dublin, 920-933). Later, when part of
Albdann's army was besieged at Atk Cruithne (near Newry),
GROWTH OF THE SEAPORT TOWNS 23
Carlingford Loughs, west to Leixlip, south to Wicklow,
Wexford 1 and even as far as Waterford. The Dublin kings
intermarried with royal families in Ireland, England and
Scotland, and between the years 919 and 950 ruled, though
in somewhat broken succession, as Kings of York.
lyimerick (O.N. Hlymrek)2, the great stronghold on the
west coast, had no existence as a city before the ninth
century. It was first occupied during the reign of Turgeis
by Vikings, who used the harbour as a base for their ships. ^
The only chieftains mentioned in connection with this
kingdom during the ninth century are Hona and Tomrir
Torra (O.N. Th6rarr Thorri), who were slain about the
year 860 in attempting to capture Waterford.* A few years
later Barith (O.N. Barthr) and Haimar (O.N. Heimarr)
when marching through Connacht on their way to Limerick,
were attacked by the Connachtmen and forced to retreat.*
The real importance of Limerick, however, dates from the
early part of the tenth century when it was colonised by
Vikings under Tomar (Th6rir) son of Elgi (O.N. Helgi).
To secure the fort against attack an earthen mound was
built all round, and gates were placed at certain distances
Guthfrith went with his forces to relieve it. In 927 the " foreigners
of Linn Duachaill " accompanied Guthfrith when he marched on
York. See Steenstrup, op. cit., III., p. 115.
^Wexford was also governed by earls. One of them, Accolb, is
mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 928.
2 The Irish name Luimnech (hence O.N. Hlymrek) was originally
applied to the estuary of the Shannon, but was afterwards confined
to the town itself when it had risen to importance under Scandinavian
rule.
^Annals of the Four Masters, a.d. 843 ; War of the Gaedhil with
the Gain, p. 8.
*Three Fragments of Annals, pp. 167, 144-6. War of the Gaedhil
with the Gain, ch. 23.
^Three Fragments of Annals, pp. 173-175; Chronicon Scoforton,
A.D. 887.
24 THE VIKING PERIOD
leading into the streets and the houses.* As a kingdom it
was independent, having subject colonies at Cashel, Thurles,
lyough Ree and Lough Corrib.'* It bad no connection with
Dublin during the tenth century ; in fact, there is evidence
to show that both royal houses were bitterly hostile towards
each another. On one occasion Guthfiith, King of DubHn,
led an army to Limerick, but was repulsed with heavy losses
b3^ the Vikings there. ^ A few years later (a.d. 929) he
expelled Tomar's successor, King Ivarr of Linierick, and his
followers from Magh Roighne (a plain in Ossory), where
they had encamped for a whole year. Olaf Godfreyson
was equally active. After defeating Olaf Cenncairech and
the Limerick Vikings at Lough Ree in 937, he carried them
off to Dublin,* and that same year probably forced them
to fight on his side in the battle of Brunnanburh.
This hostiUty would seem to have been due to rivalry
between two powerful kingdoms, rather than, as has been
suggested,^ to difference of nationality. It is not at all
certain that the Limerick Vikings were purely Danes.
One Irish chronicler speaks of the Scandinavians in Munster
as Gain and Danair and calls their fleets loingeas
Danmarcach ocus allmurach (" fleets of Danes and
foreigners ").® Elsewhere^ we find the word Lochlannaigh
[i.e., Norsemen) used with reference to the Limerick settlers ;
^ The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, pp. 9, 66 ; War oj
the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 56.
^Annals of Ulster, A.D. 845, 922, 929; The Victorious Career of
Cellachan of Cashed, p. 10 ; War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 10 ;
Thr&e Fragments of Annals, p. 197.
^Annals of Ulster, a.d. 924.
^Annals of the Four Masters, a.d. 935; Chronicon Scototum, a.d.
936.
* A. Bugge : Sidste Afsnit af Nordhoernes Historic i Irland, pp-
254. 255.
^War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 41.
''The Victorious Career of Cehachan of Cashed, p. 64.
GROWTH OF THE SEAPORT TOWNS 25
and Colla (O.N. Kolli). Prince of Limerick (d. 931) was
certainly a Norseman, for he was son of Barthr, a leader
of the Finn-Gennti in the ninth century. There would seem
to have been a mixture of both Danes and Norsemen in
Limerick, and since there is no proof that struggles for
mastery took place between them, we may take it that they
acted in harmony.
I^During the tenth century Limerick stood in close
connection with the Scandinavian Kingdom in the Hebrides. ^
Mention is made of one chieftain " Morann, son of the
Sea King of Lewis," ^ who fought and fell in Limerick
against the Irish. Moreover, the occurrence of the names
Manus, Maccus (O.N. Magnus) and SomarHdh (O.N.
SumarHthi) in both royal famihes points at least to re-
lationship by mairiage. Indeed, the same family seems to
have reigned in both kingdoms. " Godfrey, ^on of Harold,
King of the Hebrides," who was slain by the Dal Riada
in 989^ was in all probabiHty a son of that " Harold, lord
of the foreigners of Limerick," whose death is recorded by
the Four Masters in 940.
^^Practically nothing is known of the Scandinavian settle-
ment in Waterford* (O.N. Vethraf^jorthr) before the year
919, when Vikings under Raghnall (O.N. Rognvaldr),
" King of the Danes," concentrated their forces there
before attacking DubUn. These invaders, sometimes
called Nortmannai (' Norsemen '), but generally alluded
^ Steeustrup : op. cit., III., p. 213.
2 The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, p. 65.
^Annals of Ulster, a.d. 988.
^Three Fragments of Annals (a.d. 860) record that " two fleets
of the Norsemen came into the land of Cearbhall, son of Dunlaing
(King of Ossory) to plunder it." These fleets probably sailed up the
Barrow from Waterford harbour. The same annals also mention
(p. 129) a Norse chieftain called Rodolbh, who may have been
connected with the colony at Waterford. See also Annals of the Four
Masters, a.d. 888 [891].
26 THE VIKING PERIOD
to as Gain (' foreigners ') must have also included Danes,
as Raghnall's army was composed of both Danes and
Norsemen ;i and moreover, both parties are represented as
fighting side by side against the Irish in Waterford.^
Waterford had not at first a dynasty of its own, but was
dependent on the Dublin Kingdom. Olaf Godfreyson seems
to have been in command there while his father was King
of Dublin ;3 and we hear also that when the town was
attacked by the Irish under Cellachan of Cashel, Sihtric,
a prince from Dublin, came with a fleet to relieve it.* Later
in the same century, the kingdom of Waterford stood quite
distinct, and was governed by Ivarr (d. looo), who was
probably a member of the Dublin royal family. He came
forward as a claimant to the Dublin throne after the murder
of Gluniarainn, son of Olaf Cuaran (989) but was driven
out after a three years' reign by Sihtric Silken-Beard.
Ivarr's successors in Waterford, Amond (O.N. Amundr)
and Goistilin Gall were killed in the battle of Clontarf.
In the tenth and eleventh centuries Waterford was
strongly fortified, and, like Limerick, had gates leading
into the town.^ The town itself was built in the form of
a triangle with a tower at each angle,® only one of which,
the famous Reginald's Tower, built in 1003, is still standing.
Gualtier (? Ir. Gall Hr, ' land of the foreigners '), a barony
lying on the west side of the harbour, is supposed to have
been connected with the ' Ostmen,' who were obliged to
settle there after the arrival of the English in 1169.
^Annals oj Ulster, A.D. 921.
^The Victorious Career oJ Cellachan of Cashel, p. 71.
3 The Four Masters record " the pluudering of Kildart by the son
of Gothfrith {i.e., Olaf) from Waterford " (a.d. 926).
^The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, p 70.
^The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, pp. 13, 70.
* Smith : History of Waterford, p 165.
GROWTH OF THE SEAPORT TOWKS 27
Cork, the seat of a famous school founded b}^ St. Finbar,
fell an easy prey to the Vikings in the first half of the ninth
century. They built forts there and at Youghal/ but in
endeavouring to push their way inland to Fermoy were
checked by the Irish (866), and their chief, Gnimcinnsiolla
(or Gnimbeolu) ^ was slain. We hear no more of Scandinavians
here until early in the tenth century when new invaders,
part of the large army which came to Waterford with
Raghnall and Earl Ottarr in 919, gained possession of the
town. The new settlers seem to have been chiefly, if not
entirely, Danes [Danair and Diiihhgeinnti) ,* and it would
seem that with the Danish colonies at Thurles and
Cashel they subsequently came under the authority of
Ivarr of Limerick, " the high-king of the foreigners of
Munster."
Traces of the Scandinavian occupation still remain in
the place-names on the coast, especially in the districts
surrounding the seaport towns. Near Dublin we find
Howth (O.N. hdfuth, ' a head ') and Skerries (O.N.
skjcBY, ' a rock * ; also Lambey, Dalkey and Ireland's Eye,
all three containing the O.N. form ey, an * island.' The name
LeixHp is probably a form of O.N. laxhleypa* {' salmon-leap ')
not, as is generally supposed, of O.N. lax-hlaup. The O.N.
fjorthr occurs in Wexford, Strangford and Cariingford
'^Annals of the Four Masters, a.d. 846, 864.
*/&., 865, Fragments of Annals, p. 169,
Gnimbeolu is the 0,'N. Grimr Biola. The Irish "Cinnsiolla"
(Nom. Cenn Selach) is probably a translation of O.N. Selshofxith,
a word which does not occur as a nickname in Old Norse literature.
It was, however, known in Ireland as may be seen from the runic
inscription — domnal Selshofoth a soerth {th) eta — on a bronze sword-
plate found in Greenmount (Co. Louth). Cf. Marstrander, op. cit.
p. 49.
^The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, pp. 10, 67.
*Cf. Marstrander, op. cit., p. 149.
28 iHE VIKING PERIOD
(O.N. Kerlingafjorthr).! Other Scaudinavian names on the
east coast are Copeland Islands [i.e., Kaupmannaeyjar, ' the
merchants' islands ') near Belfast Lough ; Arklow, Wicklow
(O.N. lo, a low, flat meadow by the water's edge.) ; Camsore
and Greenore (O.N. eyyr, ' a small tongue of land running
into the sea ').
The number of names on the south and west coasts
is Hmited ; besides Water/or^, we find only Heluic^ (O.N.
vik, ' a bay '), Dursey Island, south-west of Cork, and
Swerwick Harbour, in Kerry. At least three well-
authenticated place-names have dropped out of use ; Dun
na Trapcharla, in Co. Limerick (O.N. (i) torf-karl, ' a
turf-cutter' or (2) thorp-karl, a 'small farmer');*
Jolduhlaup,^ a cape in the north of Ireland ; and
Ulfreksfjorthr,* the Norse name for Lough Lame.
It is also interesting to note that the second element
in the names of the three provinces, Ulster, Leinster and
Munster is derived from the O.N. stathir (plural of stathr,
' a place '), while the name Ireland (O.N. Iraland) is Scandi-
navian in form and replaced the old Irish word Briu during
the Viking period.
1 Cf. Marstrander, op. cit., p. 154. According to him, the O.N.
Kenmg, " an old woman" in this instance^ is a folk-etymological
form of Carlinn, the old name for the ford.
^ Annais of the Four Masters, A.D. 1062. Cf. Co dunad na
Piscarcarla in Cath Ruis na Rig (ed. Hogan) where Piscarcarla
corresponds to the O.N. fiskikari, " a fisherman."
The word Trapcharla (" na Trapcharla ") al'.o occurs in the Book
of Bally mote as the name of a people who fought at Troy. It has been
suggested that the term was generally used during the ninth and
tenth centuries of a Norse colony in Co. Limerick, which colony
would acquire a legendary character after the Norsemen had been
driven out of Ireland, and would figure, like the Lochlannaigh or
Norsemen, in Lliddle-Irish stories and poems.
See Miscellany presented to Kuno Meyer, pp. 293, 370.
^ Landndmabok I, ch. i.
* Heimskringla : Saga dldfs hins helga, chs. 88, 10.
CHAPTER IV.
THE EXPANSION OF IRISH TRADE.
When the Scandinavians had firmly established themselves
on the Irish coasts they developed trade to a considerable
extent, not only by bringing Ireland into communication
with their new settlements in England, but also by opening
up commerce with Iceland and Scandinavia, and even
with Russia and the East.^ Before a.d. 900 at all events,
they had been accustomed to visit France from Ireland,
and had trafficked with merchants there, using a certain
vessel called the ' Epscop '2 for measuring their wine. That
this branch of their trade was in a flourishing condition in
the latter half of the tenth century may be inferred from a
contemporary poem in which Brian Borumha is said to
have exacted as tribute one hundred and fiity vats of wine
from the Norsemen of Dublin, and a barrel of red wine
every day from the Limerick settlers.^
The Scandinavians also made marked advances on the
old methods of trading by building their forts near the
large harbours and carrying on from there a continuous
1 See the map of the Irish Trade Routes in Mrs. J. R. Green's The
Old Irish World.
2 " Kpscop fina " in the sea-laws, i.e., " a veisel for measuring
wine used by the merchants of the Norsemen and the Franks." See
Sanas Cormaic {Cormac's Glossary) compiled c. A.D. 900. {Anecdota
from Irish Manuscripts IV., ed. Kuno Meyer.)
' Cf. O'Curry : Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish, II.,
p. 125. For a transcript of the poem see A. Bugge : Vesterlanden^
Indjlydelse paa Nordboernes i Vikingctiden, p. 183.
29
30 THE VIKING PERIOD
overseas commerce.^ Previous to this foreign merchants*
who visited Ireland used to exchange their goods for home
produce at the numerous oenachs or fairs held at certain
intervals all over the country. These oenachs continued
to be celebrated during the Viking period, but it was in the
seaport towns, DubHn, Limerick, Cork, Wexford, and
Waterford, that the most important trade was centred.
Dublin, owing to its splendid position, half way between
the Continent and the Scandinavian settlements in Scotland
and Iceland, and within easy distance of England, became
one of the wealthiest towns in the West. One Irish chronicler
gives a glowing account of the treasures carried off from there
by the Irish after the battle of Gleann Mama (a.d. iooo) :
" In that one place were found the greatest quantities
of gold, silver, bronze, and precious stones : carbuncle-gems,
bufialo horns, and beautiful goblets . . . much also of various
vestures of all colours were found there likewise."^
DubHn is frequently mentioned in the sagas and seems
to have been very well known to Icelandic dealers. In Olai
Tryggvason's Saga {Heimskringla) we read that during the
reign of Olaf Cuaran a merchant called Thorir Klakka, who
had been on many a Viking expedition, went on a trading
voyage to DubHn, " as was usual in those days."* When
Olaf's son, Sihtric Silken Beard, was King of DubHn (c. 994)
the Icelandic poet Gunnlaug Ormstungu sailed from England
to Ireland with merchants who were bound for DubHn.*
'^ QL Laxdaela Saga, ch 21.
* According to an ancient poem on the great fair of Carman (Co.
Kildare) foreign merchants visited this fair and sold there " articles
of gold and silver, ornaments and beautiful clothes." For other
references see Joyce : A Social History of Ancient Ireland, Vol.
II., pp. 429-431 ; O'Curry : Manners and Customs of the Ancient
Irish, III., p. 531.
^ War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 115.
* Saga Oldfs Tryggvasonar {Heimskringla), ch. 51.
* Gunnlaugs Saga Ormstungu, ch. 8.
EXPANSION OF IRISH TRADE 31
Eyrbyggia Saga tells ^ of both Th6rodd, the owner of a
large ship of burden, and Guthleif,^ who went with other
traders on voyages " west to Dubhn." Still more interesting
is the account in the same saga of a merchant-ship that came
from Dublin in the year looo to Snaefellsness in Iceland
and anchored there for the vSummer. There were on board
some Irishmen and men from the Sudreyar (Hebrides) but
only a few Norsemen. One of the passengers, a woman named
Thorgunna, had a large chest containing " bed-clothes
beautifully embroidered, English sheets, a silken quilt, and
other valuable wares, the Hke of which were rare in Iceland."^
Limerick is heard of only once in Icelandic sources ; a
trader named Hrafn was sumamed " the Limerick-farer "
(Hlymreks f ari) * because he had lived for a long time there.
The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill gives a detailed descrip-
tion of the spoils gained by the Irish after the battle of
Sulcoit (968) whence it would seem that the Limerick
Vikings had been engaged in trade with France, Spain and
the East.
" They carried away their [i.e., ' The Vikings ') jewels
and their best property, their saddles, beautiful and foreign,
their gold and their silver ; their beautifully woven cloth
of all colours and of all kinds ; their satins and their silken
cloths, pleasing and vaiiegated, both scarlet and green,
and all sorts of cloth in hke manner."^
Reference has already been made to the numbers of Irish
women captured by Viking raiders ; many of these captives
were afterwards sold as slaves in Norway and Iceland. In
Laxdaela Saga we hear of Melkorka, an Irish princess, who
^Eyrbyggia Saga, ch. 29.
2/6.. ch. 64.
^ lb., ch. 50.
^Landndmabok, II., ch. 21, etc.
^War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 79.
32 THE VIKING PERIOD
was exposed for sale with eleven other women at a market
in Norway. The slave-dealer, a man known as Gilli (Ir.
Giolla) " the Russian " was in all probability a Scandinavian
merchant from Ireland who had carried on trade with
Russia. The extent of the slave traffic is further illustrated
in Kristni Saga (ch. 3) where mention is made of " a fair
Irish maid " whom Thangbrandr the priest bought ; "' and
when he came home with her a certain man whom the
emperor Otto the Young had put as steward there, wished
to take her from him," but Thangbrandr would not let her
go 1^ On the other hand, the Irish frequently descended on
the Viking strongholds in Ireland and carried oS the Norse
women and children, " the soft, youthful, bright, matchless
girls ; blooming, silk-clad young women, and active, large
well-formed boys."^ Therefore it is not unUkely that the
" slaves ignorant of GaeHc " who are stated to have been
given as tribute to the Irish kings in the ninth and tenth
centuries^ were really Scandinavian prisoners of war.
An interesting passage in the Book of Ely gives an idea
of the activity of the Irish merchants at this period :
" Certain merchants from Ireland, with merchandise of
different kinds and some coarse woollen blankets, arrived
at the Httle town called Grantebrycge (Cambridge) and
exposed their wares there."* It is not surprising then that
the wealth of Ireland increased rapidly, so much so that
Brian Borumha, reaUsing that this was largely due to Viking
enterprise, allowed the invaders to remain in their forts
on the coast " for the purpose of attracting commerce from
^ Kristni Saga, ch. 3.
2 War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 79.
^The Book of Rights (lycabhar na gCeart), pp. 87, 181. Ed. J.
O'Donovan.
^Liber Eliensis, (ed. Gale) I., ch. XLII.
EXPANSION OF IRISH TRADE 33
other countries to Ireland."* And even after their defeat
at Clontarf, the Vikings remained in the coast towns,
whence they continued to engage in trade witn England
and the Continent. Both Giraldus Cambrensis* and William
of Malmesbury^ mention the extensive slave-trade carried
on between Ireland and England in the twelfth century,
Bristol being the chief centre. In addition to the slave
traffic, large supplies of wine were imported from France,
while the Irish ' out of gratitude ' [non ingrata) gave hides
and skins in exchange.* That there was commercial intei-
course with Chester and also with the towns round the
Bristol Channel may be seen from the names of the citizens
of Dublin in the year 1200 : Thorkaill, Swein Ivor from
Cardiff ; Turstinus and Ulf from Bristol ; Godafridus and
Ricardus from Swansea ; Thurgot from Haverfordwest and
Harold from Monmouth.^ About 1170 two ships saiHng
from England " laden with English cloths and a great
store of goods " were attacked and plundered near DubHn
by a Norseman, Swein, son of Asleif ; and some years later
vessels from Britain carrying com and wine were seized in
Wexford harbour by the English invaders.®
The historical evidence is amply borne out by the existence
of such old Norse loan-words in Irish as mangaire (O.N.
mangari, a ' trader '), marg (O.N. mork, a ' mark '), margadh,
^Keating : History of Ireland, III., p. 271. (Ed. Dinneen). Keating
probably derived his information from Giraldus Cambrensis :
Topographia Hibernica, D. III., ch. LIII.
^Expugnatio Hibernica, I., ch. XVIII.
^De Vita S. Wulstani, II.. 20.
(See Cunningham : Growth of English Industry and CofUfnerce, I.,
p. 86.)
* Giraldus Cambrensis : Topographia Hibernica, I., ch. VI.
5 A. Bugge : Contributions to the History of the Norsemen in
Ireland. Part III.
• Qiraldus Cambrensis : Expugnatio Hibernica, I,, ch. III.
34 THE VIKING PERIOD
(O.N. markathr, a ' market '), and penning (O.N. penningr,
a ' penny '), and also by certain archaeological discoveries.
In Scandinavia coins of King Sithric Silken-Beard have been
found, ^ while four sets of bronze scales and some weights
richly decorated in enamel and gold have been dug up in
Ireland (Bangor, Co. Down).* To the same period (early
ninth century) also belong the scales and weights which were
discovered in the great hoard at Islandbridge, near Kilmain-
ham in 1866. ^ With such strong evidence of the influence
exerted by the Vikings on the expansion of Irish trade it
is not surprising to find that even as late as the seventeenth
century the greater part of the merchants of Dublin traced
their descent to Olaf Cuaran and the Dubhn Norsemen.*
^ A. Bugge : Vesterlandefies Indflydelse paa Nordboernes i Vikinge-
tiden, pp. 300-304.
2 G. Coffey, op. cit„ p. 91.
3/6., p. 89.
* Duald Mac Firbis : On the Fomorians and the Norsemen (ed.
A. Bugge). p. II.
CHAPTER V.
SHIPBUILDING AND SEAFARING.
The almost complete absence of any allusion to Irish ships*
during the eighth and ninth centuiies shows that at this
time the Irish had no warships to drive back the powerful
naval forces of the Vikings. Meeting with no opposition
on sea the invaders were able to anchor their fleets in the
large harbours, and afterwards to occupy certain important
positions along the coasts. In this connection it is interesting
to note that the Irish word longphort (a * shipstead ' ; later,
' a camp ') is used for the first time in the Annals of Ulster
with reference to the Norse encampments at DubHn and
Ivinn-Duachaill (840) ; hence it has been concluded that
the early Norse long-phorts were not exactly fortified camps,
but ' ships drawn up and protected on the landside, probably
by a stockaded earthwork.'*
The Annalists tell how, when the Vikings were expelled
from Dublin in 902, they fled across the sea to England,
leaving large numbers of their ships behind them. It was
probably the capture of these vessels that impressed upon
the Irish the advantages of this new method of warfare,
for they now began to build ships and to prepare to meet
* Only one reference is to be found in the Annals. See Annals of
the Four Masters, a.d. 728.
* 'B,o\n MacNeill : " The Norse Kingdom of the Hebrides " {Scottish
Review. Vol. XXXIX., pp. 254-276).
35
36 THE VIKING PERIOD
the Vikings in their own element.^ In 913 a " new fleet,'*
manned by Ulstermen, attacked the Norsemen off the coast
of Man but was defeated.* Another Ulster fleet commanded
by Muirchertach mac Neill, King of Aileach, sailed to the
Hebrides in 939 and carried off much spoil and booty. ^
Moreover, the Irish seem to have imitated the Scandinavian
practice of " drawing " or carrying their Hght vessels over
land to the lakes and rivers in the interior of the island.
Mention is made of Domhnall, son of Muirchertach, who
" took the boats from the river Bann on to Lough Neagh,
and over the river Blackwater upon I^ough Kme, and
afterwards upon I^ough Uachtair."*
The men of Munster also had their navy, which they
organised according to Norse methods'' by compelling each
district in the different counties to contribute ten ships to
it. Thus by the middle of the tenth century they were able
to put a formidable fleet to sea. When Cellachan of Cashel
(d. 954) was captured by the Vikings and brought to DubHn,
^ It is interesting to recall that a new development in shipbuilding,
probably due to the same causes, was taking place in England about
the same time. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle first mentions a naval
encounter with Vikings under the year 875, and some twenty years
later describes the long ships, " shaped neither like the Frisian nor
the Danish," which Alfred had commanded to be built to oppose
the oescs, or Danish ships.
^Annals of Ulster, a.d. 912.
^ Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 939.
^Annals of the Four Masters, a.d. 953 (= 955). Annals of Ulster,
A.v. 963.
To this entry the annalist adds the following note : " Quod non
factum est ab antiquis temporibus."
Cf. Three Fragments of Annals (a.d. 873) : " Bairith (O.N. Barthr),
drew many ships from the sea westwards to I^ough Ree. ..."
® Ancient Norway was divided by Haakon into districts (Skipreithur)
each of ^vhich had in wartime to equip and man a warship : the
number of these districts was fixed by law. Gulathingslog, 10. Cf.
The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, p. 151, n; etc. Cf,
The Saga of Haakon the Good {Heimskr.), ch. 2j.
SHIPBUILDING AND SEAFARING 37
he sent messengers to the Munstermen bidding them to
defend their territory : " and afterwards," he said, "go to
the chieftains of my fleet and bring them with you to Smth
na Maeile (Mull of Cantyre), and if I am carried away from
Ireland, let the men of Munster take their ships and follow
me."^ The chronicle goes on to give a vivid description of
the great naval battle which followed : the Vikings under
the leadership of Sihtric, a prince from Dublin, took up
their position in the Bay of Dundalk, where the " barques
and swift ships of the men of Munster " met them. The
Irish ships were arranged according to the territories they
represented : those of Corcolaigdi and Ui Echach (Co.
Cork) were placed farthest south ; next came the fleets of
Corcoduibne and Ciarraige (Co. Kerry), and lastly those
of Clare. When the Munstermen saw Cellachan, who had
been bound and fettered to the mast by Sihtric's orders,
they made gallant attempts to release him ; some of them
leaped upon " the rowbenches and strong oars of the mighty
ships " of the Norsemen, while others threw tough ropes
of hemp across the prows to prevent them from escaping.
Failbhe, King of Corcoduibne, brought his ship alongside
Sihtric's, and with his sword succeeded in cutting the ropes
and fetters that were round the King, but was himself
slain immediately afterwards. The battle ended in victory
for the Irish : the Norsemen were forced to leave the harbour
with all their ships, but " they carried neither King nor
chieftain with them."*
The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill records still more
victories for the Munster fleet during the reign of Brian
Borumha. In 984 he assembled " a great marine fleet *'
on Lough Derg and took three hundred boats up the
"^The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, pp. 29, 86.
• Ih., pp. 89-102.
38 THE VIKING PERIOD
Shannon to Lough Ree^ and again in looi saikd with his
fleet to Athlone.* But the greatest triumph of all was in
1005, when Brian, then at the height of his power, " sent
forth a naval expedition composed of the foreigners of
Dubhn and Waterford and the Ui Ceinnselaigh (i.e., the
men of Wexford) and almost all the men of Erin, such of
them as were fit to go to sea ; and they levied royal tribute
from the Saxons and the Britons and from the men of
Lennox in Scotland and the inhabitants of Arg^de."*
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the names of a number
of Frisian sailors who fought with the English in a naval
battle against the Vikings (A. an. 897). In the same way the
Irish ships must have been manned to a large extent by Norse
mercenaries or by the Gaill-Gaedhil, for practically all the
shipping terms introduced into Irish in the tenth and
eleventh centuries are of Norse origin.* This is evident
from the following Hst : —
llid. Ir. abor, ahiir : O.N. hdbora, ' an oar hole.'
Accaire : O.N. akkeri, * an anchor.'
Accarsoid: O.N. akkerissaeti, 'a harbour for
ships.'
Achtuaim : O.N. aktaumr, ' a brace.'
athhha : phonetic form (af, av) of O.N.
hofuih, ' head ' of a ship.
'^War of the GaedJiil ivith the Gaill, p. 109.
*Ih., p. 133.
^ lb., p. 137.
•See A. Bugge : Novse Loan-ivords in Irish {Miscellany Presented
to Kuno Meyer, p. 291 ff.).
W. A. Craigie : Oldnordiske Ord i de Gaelishe Sprog {Arhiv for
Nordisk Filologi, X., 1894).
C. Marstrander : Bidrag til det Norske Sprogs Histnrie i Irland.
K. Meyer : Revue Celtique, ■ X.,ypp. 367-9.
^^Xl.,'pp. 493-5.
,, ,, XII., (pp. ^6o-3.
SHIPBUILDING AND SEAFARING
39
Allsad :
O.N,
As:
O.N.
bat, bad :
O.N.
birling :
O.N.
carb :
O.N.
cnairr :
O.N.
laid en g :
O.N.
lip ting :
O.N.
liinnta, Innn (in
reania) :
O.N.
scib :
O.N.
tile : O.N.
Tlusdais (? teldass) : O.N.
uicing, a word used
for ' a fleet ' : O.N.
uiginnecht, piracy :
halsa, * to slacken a sail.*
ass, ' the pole to which the
lower end of a sail was
fastened during a fair wind.'
bdtr, 'a boat.'
byrthingr, ' a transport vessel/
' a merchant ship.'i
karfi, ' a ship.'
knorr, ' a merchant ship.'
leithangr, ' naval forces.'
lypting, ' a taffrail.'
hlunnr, ' the handle of an oar.'
skip, ' a ship/ whence also are
derived sciobaire, * a sailor '
and scipad and sgiobadh, ' to
make ready for saihng/
thili, * a plank/ ' the bottom
board in a boat.'
tjalddss, ' the horizontal top-
mast of a ship.'
Vikingr, ' one who haunts a
bay or creek.'
^ i ' Marstrander {op. cit., p. 21) suggests that the word is connected
with the O.N. dialectal form herling, " a little .stick or beam under the
shallow.s in a boat."
40 THE VIKING PERIOD ^
CHAPTER VI.
LINGUISTIC INFLUENCES.
{a) Loan-words from Old Norse in Irish.
The large number of loan-words from Old Xorse which
occur in Old and Middle Irish indicate clearly the extent
and character of Scandinavian influence in Ireland. They
are therefore interesting from an historical point of view,
for thej^ confirm, and sometimes supplement, the evidence
of Irish and Icelandic sources, that the relations existing
between the two peoples were largely of a f riendh^ character.
As the subject has already been fully dealt with by
Celtic scholars, ^ onty the more important loan words are
given here : —
I. Dress 2 and Armour.
O.Ir. at-cliiic, also clocc-att ' a helmet.' att = O.N. hattr,
* a hat,' while cluic = M. Ir. clocenn, ' a head '
M. Ir. allsmann ; O.N. halsmen, ' a necklace.'
M. Ir. boga ; O.N. bogi, ' a bow.'
M. Ir. bossan ; O.N. puss, * a small bag or purse
hanging from the belt,'
M. Ir. cnapp ; O.N. knappr, ' a button.'
1 Cf. the list of authorities referred to ante. pp. 38, 39.
2 The Norsemen sometimes adopted Irish fashions in their
dress. The great Viking Magnus, who was killed in Ireland
in A.D. 1 103, was usually called " barelegs " (O.N. berfaettr)
because he always wore the Irish kilts ; and his son, Harold Gilli,
who could speak Irish better than Norse, " much wore the Irish
raiment, being short-clad and light-clad." It was probably from his
Irish cuaran, or shoes of skin that 01 af Sihtricsson, the famous King
of Dublin received his nickname.
LINGUISTIC INFLUENCES
41
M. Ir. elta ; O.N. hjalt, ' a hilt ' (of a sword).
M. Ir. mattal ; O.N. mdttull, ' a cloak.'
M. Ir. mergge; O.N. merki, ' a flag ' or ' banner.'
M. Ir. sceld ; O.N. skojldr, ' a shield.'
O. Ir. scot, lin scoU ; O.N. skaiit, ' a cloth,' or ' sheet.'
M. Ir. starga ; O.N. targa, ' a shield.'
M. Ir. bailc;
M. Ir. fidndeog:
M. Ir. garda ;
M. Ir. halla ;
M. Ir. sparv :
M. Ir. si5J//;
Other interesting
O. Ir. armand,
armann ;
M. Ir. callaire ;
M. Ir. gunnfann ;
O. Ir. ^/'^W ; M. Ir.
iavla :
M. Ir. lagmainn ;^
M. Ir. P^?'s;2
M. Ir. srdid;
M. Ir. sreang ;
M. Ir. ^m'z7/;
M. Ir. trosg ;
O. Ir. itstaing ;
II. Housebuilding.
O.N. 6^7^;', ' a beam.'
O.N. vindaiiga, ' a window.
O.N. garthr, ' a garden.'
O.N. /io//, ' a hall.'
O.N. sparri, ' a rafter.'
O.N. s/d^/, ' a stool.'
III.
loan words are : —
O.N. drmathr, ' an officer.'
O.N. kallari, ' a herald.'
O.N. gimnfdni, ' a battle standard.*
O.N. jarl, ' an earl.'
O.N. logmenn, plural of logmatJiY, ' a
lawman.'
O.N. berserkr.
O.N. straeti, ' a street.'
O.N. strengy, ' a string.'
O.N. thraell, ' a slave.'
O.N. thorskr, ' codfish.'
O.N. hiisthing, ' an assembly.'
^ In the Annals of the Foiiv Masters (A.D, 960), laguiainn is the
name given to certain chieftains from the Hebrides who phuidered
the southern and eastern coasts of Ireland.
* The word occurs only once in Irish : cf . The Victorious Carser of
Cellachan of Cushel, p. 140.
42 THE VIKING PERIOD
Certain old Norse words and phrases which are to be found
in Irish texts also go to show the familiarity of the Irish
with the Norse language. They may be mentioned here,
although they are not loan-words, but rather attempts
on the part of the Irish authors to reproduce the speech
of the foreigners : —
ciug.'^ O.N. koniingv, or possibly
A.S. cyning.
coming (Three Fragments of
Annals, pp. 126, 194, 228). O.N. kommgr, ' a king.*
" Faras Domnall ? " (War of
the Gaedhil with the Gaill ;
p. 174). " Hvar es Domhnall ? "
" Where is Domhnall ? '*
"Simd a sniding," was the O. Jr. simd, " here.'*
reply. O.N. nithingr, " here,
rascal."
fiiit (Book of Leinster, 172,
a, 7). O.N. hvitr, ' white.'
In fait, a personal name ;
War of the Gaedhil with
the Gaill, p. yS. O.N. hvitr, * white.'
'^The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 203, says that when
the Norsemen were fleeing after the battle of Clontarf, Earl Broder,
accompanied by two warriors, passed by the tent in which King
Brian was. One of these men, who had been in Brian's service, saw
the King and cried " Cing, Cing " (This is the King). " No, no, acht
prist, prist " said Broder (No, no, it is a priest, said Broder).
LINGUISTIC INFLUENCES 43
litill {ibid., p. 84). O.N. litill, ' little.'
mikle (Three Fragments of
Annals, p. 176). O.N. mikill, ' much.'
nui,nui {ibid,'p. 16^).'^ O.N. kmie, ixom knyja, 'to
advance.'
roth.^ O.N. raitthr, ' red.'
(b) Gaelic Words in Old Norse Literature. ^
Considering the close connection between Ireland and
Iceland, especially in the tenth and eleventh centuries, it
is surprising that so few Gaelic words found their way
into Old Norse Hterature. The only Norse words that can
be said, with any certainty, to be derived from Irish, are
the following : —
bjamiak ( Ynglingasaga,
Heimskringla, ch. 2) : Ir. bennacM, ' a blessing.'
erg [Orkneyinga Saga, ch. 113) Ir. airghe, (i) ' a herd of
cattle.'
(2) * grazing land/
1 These annals state that on one occasion (a.d. 869) Cennedigh
of Ivcix, a brave Irish chieftain, was pursued by the Norsemen, who
" blew their trumpets and raised angry barbarous shouts, many of
them crying ' nui, mii.' "
2 Marstrander {op. cit, p. 156) suggests, however, that roth may be
an archaic form of the Irish niadh, ' red.'
^ Cf. W. A. Craigie : Gaelic Words and Names in the Sagas and
Landndmabok. [Zeitscltrift fiir Celtische Philologie, Band I., pp.
439-454)-
A. Bugge : Vesterlandenes Indflydelse paa Nordbosmes i Vihinge-
iiden, ch. 9. See especially pp. 358-359.
44 THE VIKING PERIOD
gelt ;^ Ir. g^^l^, ' a madman/
varth at gjalti, to become mad
I with fear. Cf . Eyrhyggja
, Saga, ch. i8.
ingian ; Ir. inghean, ' a girl.'
kapall (Fommanna Sogur II.,
p. 231) ; Ir- capall, ' a horse.*
kesja : Ir. c^Js, ' a spear.'
y^of'^i (Snorres Edda, II., 493); Ir. coivce, ' oats.'
kross : Ir. cws, ' a cross.'
kuaran ; Ir. cnaran, ' a shoe ' (made
of skin).
1 There is an interesting account of the gelt in the Old Norse
Konungs Skuggsjd {Speculum Regale) :
" It happens that when two hosts meet and are arranged in battle-
array, and when the battle-cry is raised loudly on both sides,
cowardly men run wild and lose their wits from the dread and fear
which seize them. And they run into a wood away from other men,
and live there like beasts and shun the meeting of men like wild
beasts. And it is said of these men then when they have Hved in the
woods in that condition for twenty years, that feathers grew on
their bodies like birds, whereby their bodies are protected against
frost and cold. ..."
Cf . Kuno Meyer : On the Irish Mivahilla in the Old Norse
"Speculum Regale" {Eriu, Vol. IV., pp. 11-12).
This bears a .striking resemblance to a certain passage in the
mediaeval romance Cath Muighe Rath (Battle of Moy Rath, p. 232.
Ed. by O'Donovan). It may also be compared with another romance,
which probably dates from the same period, viz., Bnile Suibhne.
{The Madness of Suibhne, ed. by J. G. O'Keefe for the Irish Texts
Society). Cf. also Hdvamdl (ed. Gering), .str. 129, etc.
LINGUISTIC INFLUENCES 45
ktithi i"^ ? Ir. cuthach, 'fierce.'
mahdiarik;^ Ir. mallackt diiit, a rig, 'a
curse upon you, O king.'
minnthak ;^ Ir. mintach, 'made of meal.'
rig (in Rigsmdl) ; Ir. ri[g), ' a king.'
tarfr {Eyrbyggia Saga, cli. 63,
etc.) Ir. tarbh, ' a bull.'
(c) Irish Influence on Icelandic Place-
nomenclature.
A number of the place-names mentioned in the
Landndmahok* contain a Gaelic element which, ^Yith one
or two exceptions, is present in the form of a personal name.
Among these Icelandic place-names we may note the
following : —
Personal Name.
Bekkanstatkir : Ir. Beccdn.
(i) Branslackr, (eilso (2)
Brjamslackr) ; Ir. (i) Bran, (2) Brian.
^ Vilbald, a descendant of Kjarval, King of Ossory, liad a ship
called Kuthi, cf. Landndmahok , IV., ch. 11. Todd {War of the Gaedhil
with the Gain, p. 299,0.) suggests Ir. Cuthach.
2j^ccording to Jans Saga kins Helga, ch. 14 {Bishupa Sogiiv I.,
Kaupmannahofn, 1858) King Magnus Barelegs sent an Icelander
with other hostages to King Myrkjartan of Connacht. When
they arrived there, one of the Norsemen addressed the King
m these words : " Male diarik," to which the King repHed " Olgeira
ragall," i.e., Ir., olc aev adh ra gall, (it is a bad thing to be cursed by
a Norseman.)
3 minnthak was the name given by Hjorleif 's Irish thralls to the
mixture of meal and butter which they compounded while on board
ship on their way to Iceland. They said it was good for quenching
thirst. Cf. Landmmabdk, I., ch. 6.
*Cf. Whitley Stokes, op. ctt., pp. 186 191,
46
THE VIKING PERIOD
Personal Name.
Dufansdalir ;
Ir.
Duhhan.
Dufthaksholt ;
Ir.
Dubhthach.
also Dufthakskor ; etc.
Kalmansd ;
Ir.
Colmdn.
also Kalmanstunga.
Kjallaksholl, Kjallaksstathiv ,
: Ir.
Ceallach.
Kjaninsvik ;
Ir.
Ciardn.
Kylaiisholar ;
Ir.
Culen (Marstrander).
(i) Lnnansholt or
Ir.
(i) Lon-dn
(2) Lumansholt ;
(2) Lomnidn.
Minnthakseyy ;
Ir.
mintach, ' made of meal.'
Papyli, Papey ;
Ir.
* papa,' ' an anchorite
Patreksfjoythr ;
Ir.
personal name Patraic.
CHAPTER VII.
THE VIKINGS AND THE CELTIC CHURCH.
Beyond a few meagre allusions the Irish Annals throw no
light on the progress of Christianity among the " foreigners "
in Ireland during the ninth century. Fortunately, however,
the Icelandic Sagas and the Landndniabok have preserved
some interesting details concerning a small number of the
Norse settlers in Iceland, who had previously come under
the influence of Christianity in Ireland and in the Western
Islands of Scotland. As far as we can gather from these
sources the new faith seems at first to have made but httle
headway ; heathenism retained a strong hold on the majority
of the Norse people, and there can be Httle doubt that this
form of religion was extensively practised in Ireland during
the Viking age. Evidence of this is to be found in The
Way of the Gaedhil imth the Gaill, which describes how
Authr, wife of Turgeis, sat on the high altar of the church
in Clonmacnois, and gave audiences as a prophetess.^ In
this instance the high altar would seem to have corresponded
to the seithy hjally or platform which it was customary to
erect in Icelandic houses when a volva or prophetess was
called in to foretell the future. ^ Some writers ^ also point
'^War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 13.
Cf. also Three Fragments of Annals, p. 146 : " In a battle fought
between the Irish and the Norsemen the latter were driven to a
small place surrounded by a wall. The druid Hona went up on the
wall, and with his mouth open began to pray to the gods and to
exercise his magic ; he ordered the people to worship the gods. ..."
2 Cf. Thoyfinssaga Karlsefnis, ch. 3 ; Vatnsdaela Saga, cli. 10 ;
Thdtiy af Nornagesti, ch. 11; Hrolfs Saga. Kraka, ch, 3; etc.
^ e.g., C. Haliday : The Scandinavian Kingdom of Dublin, p 12 ft".
Margaret Stokes, op. cit., pp. 96-98.
47
48 THE YlKING PERIOD
to the numerous raids ou churches and religious houses
as a proof of the Vikings* hostility to Christianity, but
these attacks were much more likel}'' to have originated in
the amount of treasure which the raiders knew to be stored
in these places. It is rather in this light, too, that we must
regard Turgeis' expulsion of the abbot Farannan from
Armagh (in 839), and his subsequent usurpation of the
abbacy, 1 than as an attempt to stamp out Christianity
and establish heathenism in its stead.
Yet, at the same time, the Norsemen must have come into
close contact with the religion of the " \Vhite Christ "
through their intercourse with the Irish. Indeed, an entry
in the Annals of Ulster (a.d. S72), referring to the death
of fvarr the Boneless, impHes that this famous Viking died
a Christian. 2 The records are silent on this point with regard
to Olaf the White, although he was related by marriage
to Ketill Flatnose, a famous chief in the Hebrides, all of
whose family, with the exception of his son, Bjorn the
Easterner, adopted Christianity. Olaf 's wife, Authr, daughter
of Ketill, was one of the most zealous of these early Norse
converts : " She used to pray at Crossknolls, where she
had crosses erected, because she was baptized, and was a
good Christian." Before her death she gave orders that she
was to be buried on the seashore, between high and low
water-mark, because she did not wish to lie in unconsecrated
ground. The Landndmabok also says that for some time
after her death her kinsfolk reverenced these knolls, but
in course of time their faith became corrupt, and in the same
^ Cf. War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 8.
2 The expression used is quievit in Chrisio aud occurs only in
MS. A . As neither MS. B nor any of the other annals mention Ivarr's
conversion it may be that the scribe of the former ha=? unintentionally
slipped into using a formula which was customary in recording the
death ot a Christian.
THE VIKINGS AND THE CELTIC CHURCH 49
place they built a temple and offered up sacrifices. ^ We
hear, too, of Orlygr the Old, who had been fostered by
Bishop Patrick in the Hebrides. When he was setting out
for Iceland the Bishop gave him " wood for building a
church, a plenarium, an iron penny and some consecrated
earth to be put under the corner pillars," and asked him
to dedicate the church to St. Columba. On the vo^^age a
great storm arose. Orlygr prayed to St. Patrick that he
might reach Iceland in safety, promising, as a thanksgiving,
to call the place in which he should land by the saint's
name. 2 ]\Iention is also made of several other Christians
from the British Isles : Jorundr, Helgi Bjola ]^ Thorkell—
son of Svarkell from Caithness — " who pra3^ed before the
cross, ever good to old men, ever good to young men ; '"^
As61f,5 Ketill — grandson of Ketill Flatnose^ — who was sur-
named hinn fifiski (' the fooHsh ') because he adhered to
Christianity.® A long time after (c. a.d. 997) Thangbrandr
the Priest found descendants of Ketill's in Iceland, " all
of whom had been Christians from father to son.'"^
Considering the missionary ardour of the Irish at this period
it is curious that no priests accompanied these early settlers
to Iceland. This may have been due to scepticism as to the
sincerity of these converts ; such, at least, is the impression
received from the Irish annals and chronicles, in which the
Norsemen are almost invariably referred to as ' heathens '
and ' pagans.' The result was that the influence of
Christianit}^ declined in Iceland ; " some of those who came
from west-the-sea remained Christians until the day of
'^Landndmahok, II., ch. 16.
^Landndmahok, I., ch. 12,
3/6., v., ch. 15.
^Ib., I., ch. 13.
^Ib., I., ch. 15.
8/6.. IV.. ch. II.
' Njdls Saga, ch i o i .
50 THE VIKING PERIOD
their death *' says the Landndmahok, " but their families
did not always retain the faith, for some of their sons erected
temples and offered sacrifices, and the land was wholly
heathen for nearly one hundred and twent}^ 3^ears."i
In the transition from heathenism to Christianity
opposing beHefs were sometimes held at the same time ;
the Viking continued to have recourse to Thor even after
he had been baptized. Helgi the Lean, son of Byvindr the
Easterner, and Rafarta, daughter of King Cearbhall of
Ossory, " was very mixed in his faith ; he believed in
Christ, but he invoked Thor for seafaring and brave deeds.
When he came in sight of Iceland he asked Thor where
he should settle down ; " and when he had built his house,
" he made a large fire near every lake and river, thus sancti-
fying all the land between. . . . Helgi beHeved in Christ, and
therefore named his house after Him." 2 We also read that
" Orlygr the Old and his family trusted in Columba,"*
but whether they abandoned all other belief in the Christian
faith and fell into Paganism is not quite clear. Again, in
the account of the naval battle between Danes and Norse-
men in Carhngford lyough (a.d. 852) the annalist describes
how " Lord Horm," leader of the Danish forces, advised
his men to " pray fervently " to St. Patrick, " the
archbishop and head of the saints of Erin," whose churches
and monasteries the Norsemen had plundered and burned.
So the Danes put themselves under the protection of the
saint : " Let our protector," they cried, " be the holy
Patrick and the God who is lord over him also, and let our
spoils and our wealth be given to his church." After the
battle ambassadors frcm the drd-ri found the Danes seated
round a great fire, cooking their food in cauldrons — which
'^Landnamahok, V., ch. 15.
2/6., III., ch. 12.
8/6.. I., ch. 12.
THE VIKINGS AND THE CELTIC CHURCH 51
were supported on the dead bodies of the Norsemen, while
near by was " a trench full of gold and silver to give to
Patrick ; for the Danes," adds the chronicler, " were a
people with a kind of piety ; they could for a while refrain
from meat and from women." ^
This confusion of the two religions is also illustrated in
the crosses, sj^mbols of Christianity, which the Vikings
erected in the north of England and in the Isle of Man to
the memory of their kinsfolk. On the Gosforth cross in
Cumberland a representation of the Crucifixion — obviously
influenced by Celtic designs — is found side by side with a
figure of the god Vitharr slaying the Wolf, a scene de-
scribed in Vafthruthnismal ; while on the western side
of the cross is portrayed the punishment of Loki.^ A frag-
ment of a cross in the same locaHty shows Thor fishing
for the Mithgarthsormr, 3 a subject which is also treated
on a cross slab in Kirk Bride Parish Church, Isle of Man.*
Among the many other Celtic crosses in Man are four upon
which are carved pictures from the story of Sigurthr
Fafnisbani : Sigurthr roasting the dragon's heart on the
fire and cooling his fingers in his mouth, his steed Grani
and the tree with the talking birds ; another figure has been
identified with Loki throwing stones at the Otter. ^ There
are besides twenty-six crosses with Runic inscriptions, six
of which bring out the Viking connection with the Celtic
Church. On one the Ogam alphabet is scratched, and the
same monument bears a Runic inscription which tells us
that " Mai Lumkun (Ir. Mael Lomchon) raised this cross
^Three Fragments of Annals, pp. 120-124.
2 Cf . Gylfaginning, chs. 51, 52.
^ H'piniskvitha, pass. Cf. W. S. Calverley : The Ancient Crosses
at Gosforth, p. 168.
* P. M. C. Kermode. : Manx Crosses, pp. 180-184.
^Ib., pp. 170-179.
52 THE YTKTNG PERIOD
to his foster (mother) Malmuni (Ir. Maelmuire), daughter
of Tufgal (Ir. Dubhgall), whom Athisl had to wife." To this
the nine writer adds : "It is better to leave a good foster-
son than a bad son."i Crosses were also erected by Mail
Brikti (Ir. Mael Brigde), son of Athakan (Ir. Aedhacan)
the smith ;2 by Thorleifr Hnakki in remembrance of his
son Fiak (Ir. Fiacca) ;3 and by an unknown Norseman to
the memory of his wife Murkialu (Ir. Muirgheal).* Another
cross-slab commemorates Athmiul (? Ir. Cathmaoil), wife
of Truian {i.e., the Pictish name Dmian), son of Tufkal,**
while still another stone contains a fragment of a prayer
to Christ, and the Irish saints, Malaki (Malachy), Bathrik
(Patrick), and Athanman (Adamnan).«
The advance of Christianity during the tenth century
may be attributed to a large extent to the prevalence of
the practice known as prime-signing or marking with the
sign of the cross. According to Eyrhyggja Saga (ch. 50),
this was " a common custom among merchants and
mercenary soldiers in Christian armies, because those men
who were ' prime-signed ' could associate with Christians
as well as heathens, while retaining that faith which they
liked best." Nearly all the Norse kings who reigned in
Dublin during this century seem to have accepted
Christianity. When Gothfrith plundered Armagh in 919
" he spared the church and the houses of prayer, with their
company of culdees (ceile-de) and the sick."' We may assume
^ lb., pp. 86-95, 195-199-
' lb., pp. 150-153-
2 Jb., pp. 203-205.
■* lb., pp. 209-213.
^ lb., p. 169.
* lb., pp. 212-213.
"^Annals of Ulster, a.d. 919. The vSame source in recording
Gothfrith's death (A.D. 933) speaks of him as " the most cruel of
the Norsemen."
THE VTKTNnS AND THE CELTIC CHURCH 53
that Sihtric Gale, Gothfrith's brother (or cousin) was also
a Christian, since he formed a friendly alhance with Aethel-
stan, who gave him his sister in marriage. ^ In 943 Olaf
Cuaran was baptized, and in the same year Rognvaldr,
another Norse prince, was confirmed.'* After the battle
of Tara (980) Olaf went on pilgrimage to lona, where he
died " after penance and a good life."^ His daughter and
grandson were called by distinctively Irish Christian names
— Maelmuire* (servant of Mary), and Gilla Ciarain^ (servant
of St. Ciaran). We ma}- also note the name Gilla-Padraig
which occurs in the royal family of Waterford^ and the
half-Irish name of a priest in Clonmacnois, Connmhach
Ua Tomrair, who must have been of Norse extrac-
tion.^
But all traces of heathenism in Ireland had not disappeared
by the end of the tenth century. An interesting relic was
Thor's ring (Ir. fail Tomhair) which was carried off from
Dubhn by King Maelsechnaill II. in 994.^ This must have
been the ddm-hnngr, so frequently alluded to in Icelandic
Hterature. It was a ring of silver or gold, about twenty
ounces in weight, which lay upon an altar in the temple,
except during ceremonies, when it was worn on the priest's
arm.^ Upon this ring oaths w^ere usually sworn. i'' That it
was connected with the worship of Thor is clear from a
passage in the Landndmahdk describing a place called
^Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, MS.D., a.d. 925.
2/fc., MSS. A., 942, D. 943.
^Annals of the Four Masters, a.d. 979.
* lb., A.D. I02I.
^War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 207.
• Annals of the Four Masters, a.d. 982.
'76., A.D. lOII.
® lb., A.D. 994.
^Eyrbyggja Saga, clis. 4 and 10; Kjalnesinga Saga, ch. 2; etc.
^oCf. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, M5. /4. Annal, a.d, 876, Kjalnesinga
Saga, ch. 2 ; etc.
54 THE VIKING TERIOD
Thorsnea in Iceland : " there still stands Thor's stone,
on which were broken the backs of those men who were
about to be sacrificed, and close b}^ is the ddmhringr where
the men were condemned to death." ^ Even as late as the
year a.d. looo we hear of Thor's wood {caill Tomair)
north of DubUn, which was laid waste by Brian Borumha
after the battle of Gleann Mama.^
The battle of Clontarf (a.d. 1014) is frequently represented
as a great fight between Pagan and Christian, but this
point of view is hardly confirmed by the historical facts.
It is true that the Norsemen numbered among their
supporters such prominent upholders of heathenism as
Sigurthr, earl of Orkney, and Broder — who had been a
mass-deacon, but " now worshipped fiends, and was of all
men most skilled in sorcery," yet it must be remembered
that the Leinstermen, under their king Maelmordha, also
formed part of the Norse army on the same occasion. More-
over, both the Norse and Irish accounts of the battle agree
that Gormflaith, who had been the wife of Brian Borumha,
inspired by hatred of Brian, was mainly responsible for the
renewal of hostiUties between the two peoples. Her son,
Sihtric Silken Beard, who was most active in mobihsing
the Norse troops, must have been a Christian, since the
coins which were minted in Dublin during his reign are
stamped with the sign of the cross. In 1028 he visited
Rome, and there is record of another visit some years later.'
His death is entered in the Annals under the year 1042,
in which same year his daughter, a nun in an Irish convent,
also died.*
It was probably on his return to Dublin from Rome in
'^Lnndndmaboh, II., ch. 12.
^Vnr of the Gaedhil zvith the GaiU, pp. 196, 198.
^ Atmals of Tigernach, ad. 1028, 1036.
* Jh., A.D. 10-^2.
THE VIKINOS AND THE CELTIC CHURCH 55
1036 that Sihtric gave " a place on which to build a church
of the Blessed Trinity," afterwards known as Christchurch
Cathedral, and " contributed gold and silver wherewith to
build it."i
The Norsemen would seem to have regarded the
Irish Church with no friendly feelings. The first Norse
bishop, Dunan or Donatus, was on intimate terms with
lyanfranc, and when the next bishop, Patrick, was chosen
by the clergy and people of DubUn, he was sent, with a
letter professing their " bounden obedience " to lyanfranc
for consecration (a.d. 1074). 2 His successors, Donatus
(d. 1095), Samuel (d. 1121), and Gregory (d. 11 62) were also
consecrated at Canterbury, and acknowledged the supremacy
of the archbishop. An interesting letter addressed to the
Archbishop of Canterbury by the priests and citizens of
Dublin in 1121 is still extant : " You know," the letter
runs, " that the bishops of Ireland, more especially the
Bishop of Armagh, is extremeh^ angry with us because we
will not submit to his decrees, and because we always wish
to remain under your authority. ^
Bishoprics were founded at Waterford and Wexford
later than in Dublin. Malcus, the first Bishop of Waterford,
was consecrated at Canterbury, and on his arrival in
Waterford in 1096, he began to build a church, dedicated,
hke that of DubUn, to the Holy Trinity.*
Some years later we hear of a Bishop of Limerick, Gilla
or Gilbert, who does not seem to have been consecrated
in England, but who was in close touch with the Archbishop
^The Whole Works of Sir James Ware Concerning Ireland, Vol I.,
p. 301. (Ware quotes from the Black Book of Christchurch Cathedral,
Dublin.)
2/6., p. 306.
»/6., pp. 309-311.
*/fe., pp. 525-6.
56 THE VIKING PERIOD
of Canterbury.* He it was who convoked the synod at
Rathbresail, at which it was decided to divide Ireland into
dioceses : "there," says Keating, "the sees and dioceses of the
bishops of Ireland were regulated ; Dublin was excluded,
because it was not customar}^ for its bishop to receive
consecration except from the Archbishop of Canterbury."*
lyimerick and Waterford were placed under the jurisdiction
of the Bishop of Cashel, but this decree seems to have been
ignored by the people of Limerick, for they elected their
next bishop, Patrick, in the ordinary way and sent him
to England for consecration. ^ It is uncertain whether the
Waterford people obe3^ed, as the records merely mention
the names of the succeeding bishops.
A still more important S3Tiod was held at Kells in 1132.
There the decision of the j^revious synod regarding the
division of the country into dioceses was ratified, and
archbishoprics were established at DubHn, Armagh, Cashel,
and Tuam. Henceforth the bishops of DubHn, Limerick,
and Waterford were consecrated in Ireland, and this marked
the close of the connection between Canterbury and the
Celtic Church.
17&., p. 504.
Cf. J. MacCa&rey : The Black Book of Limerick. Introduction,
chs. 5 and 7.
^The History of Ireland, bv Geoffrey Keating (ed. P. S. Dinneen).
Vol. III., p. 298.
^Ware, op. cit., p. 505.
CHAPTER VIII.
LITERARY INFLUENCE: THE SAGAS OF
ICELAND AND IRELAND.
I.
The most interesting branch of early Norse literature is
the saga or prose story. Of these there are many varieties
but the most distinctive are the f ollo^ving : (i) the Islendinga
Sogur, or stories relating to prominent Icelanders, (2)
Konunga Sogur, or stories of Kings, chiefly of Norway ;
(3) Fornaldar Sogur, or stories about early times. All these
are essentially Icelandic in origin ; sagas having their
origin in Norway are by no means unknown, but they are,
as a rule, translated or derived from French and other
foreign sources.^ In their present form the sagas relating
to the history of Iceland date for the most part from the
thirteenth century, though some of them were probably
committed to writing in the latter part of the twelfth.
The earliest Icelandic document of which we have any
record is the original text of the Laws, said to have been
written in the year 1181. Ari's Islendinga-Bok, containing
^ It has been stated (cf. E. Mogk : Geschichte d^y Norwegisch-
Isldndischen Literatur. Strassburg, 1904, p. 830) that mauy of
Saxo's stories came from Norway, where they had been collected
by an Icelander in the twelfth century. There can be no doubt that
stories of some kind relating to families and localities — especially
stories which accounted, or professed to account for local names —
were current in Norway down to this time. Such stories form the
basis of many of the Fornaldar Sogur, but in all probability these had
been familiar to Icelanders from the first settlement of the island,
or at least during the tenth century. We have no evidence that they
ever gained literary form in Norway. (Cf.Fiunur jonssoU ; Old
Norske Liiteraturs Historie, II., p. 791.)
57
58 THE VIKING PEEtOD
a short account of the settlement of Iceland with notices
of the more important events, and accounts of the succession
of lawmen and bishops, was written a few 3'ears later, though
the form in which it has come down to us is that of an
abbreviated text written about the year 1130. This work,
the foundation of all subsequent historical writing in
Iceland, contains some shoil notices, which apparently-
had been handed down by tradition, but these stories,
usually known as sagas, would seem to have been written
down somewhat later. Indeed until the close of the twelfth
century the language emplo^-ed for historical writings in
Iceland, as elsewhere, was for the most part Latin.
Though the writing of the sagas did not begin until the
latter part of the twelfth century, sagas in some form
or other must have been in existence much earlier, carried
on from generation to generation by oral tradition. This
faculty of reciting sagas was a special characteristic of the
Icelanders, by whom it was carefully cultivated. In the
preface to his Historia Danica Saxo acknowledges his
indebtedness to the " men of Thule," who " account it a
delight to learn and to consign to remembrance the history
of all nations, deeming it as great a glory to set forth the
excellence of others as to display their own. Their stores,
which are stocked with attestations of historical events,
I have examined somewhat closely and have woven together
no small portion of the present work by following their
narrative. "1
That the art of storytelling did not decUne in Iceland
even after the majority of the sagas were written down is
'^The First Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaiicv.s.
Translated by Oliver Elton (ed. by F. York Powell, p. 5). It is not
clear whether Saxo had Icelandic manuscripts before him, but his
words leave no doubt that he was aware of the fact that stories
had been carried on by oral tradition.
LirEEAEY INFLUE^'CE 59
attested by Sturlunga Saga. Here we are told that when
Sturla visited King Magnus* court at Bergen in 1263 the
king received him coldly, but afterwards allowed him to
accompany the royal party on a voyage to the south of
Norway. In the evening one of the sailors asked if there
was anyone among them who could tell stories, but he
received no answer. He turned to Sturla, " Sturla, the
Icelander, will you entertain us ? " " Willingly,'* said
Sturla. Then he related the story of Huld^ better and
with much more detail than any of those present had ever
heard it told before. Then many men made their way to
the deck so as to hear as clearly as possible, and there was
a great crowd there. The queen asked : " What is that
crowd on the deck ? " A man answered, " Men who are
hstening to the tale the Icelander is telHng." " What
story is that ? '' she asked. " It is about a great giantess ;
it is a good story and well told." On the following day the
queen sent for Sturla and asked him to come and bring
with him the saga of the giantess.* So Sturla went aft to
the quarterdeck and told the story over again. When he
had j&nished, the queen and many of the Hsteners thanked
him and took him to be a learned and wise man.^
A much earlier reference to the recitation, and indeed
the composition of sagas is found in Thorgils Saga ok
Haflitha, in which there is an account of a wedding-feast
at Reykholar in 1119 :
" There was fun and merriment and great festivity, and
1 This was probabh^ something in the nature of a fairy-tale like the
Huldre-eventyr of modern Norway. We may refer to the story of the
witch Huldr given in Ynglinga Saga (ch. 16), and to the supernatural
being Hold a or Holle in German folk-lore.
2 " hafa meih sey tyvllkomi-susuna," From these words Finnur
Jonsson [op. cit., II., p. 792) concludes that Sturla possessed a written
copy of the saga.
^Sturlunga Saga, 11., pp. 270-271.
bO THE VIKING PERIOD
all kinds of amusements, such as dancing, wrestling and
story-telling. . . . Hrolfr of Skalmarnes told a story about
Hrongvithr the Viking, and Olaf ' the sailor's king,' and
about the rifling of the barrow of Thrainn the berserkr,
and about Hromundr Gripsson, and he included many
verses in his story. King Sverrir used to be entertained
with this story, and he declared that fictitious stories Hke
these were the most entertaining of any ; and yet there are
men who can trace their ancestry to Hromundr Gripsson.
Hrolfr had put this saga together. Ingimundr the priest
told the story of Ormr, the poet of Barrey and included
many verses in it, besides a good poem which Ingimundr
had composed, therefore many learned men regard this
saga as true."^
The former of these stories is the Hromundr a Saga which
belongs to the class commonly called Fornaldar Sogur.*
Still further back in the reign of Harald Hardradith (1047-
1066) we have a most important allusion to the art of story-
telling. According to the saga^ a young Icelander came one
summer to King Harald seeking his protection. The king
received him into his court on the understanding that he
should entertain the household during the winter. He soon
became very popular, and received gifts from members
of the household and from the king himself. Just before
Christmas the king noticed that the Icelander seemed
dejected, and he asked the reason. The Icelander replied
that it was because of his ' uncertain temper.'
" That is not so," said the king. ..." I think your stock
of sagas must be exhausted, because you have entertained
us all through the winter, whenever 3^ou were called upon
^Tkorgtl's Saga ok Haflitha {Siurhtnga Saga, Vol. I., p. 19).
^Fornaldar Soguy, Vol. II., p. 323.
^ Harald' s Hardrada Saga, cli. 99 {Fornmavnn Sogur, VI., pp.
354-356;.
LITERARY INFLUENCE 61
to do so. Now you are worried because your sagas have
come to an end at Christmas time, and you do not wish to
tell the same over again."
" You have guessed rightly," said the Icelander. " I
know only one more saga, but I dare not tell it here, because
it is the story of your adventures abroad."
" That is the saga I particularly want to hear," said
the king, and he asked the Icelander to begin it on Christmas
Day and tell a part of it every day. During the Christmas
season there was a good deal of discussion about the enter-
tainment. Some said it was presumption on the part of
the Icelander to tell the saga and they wondered how the
king would Hke it ; others thought it was well told, but others
again thought less of it. When the saga was finished, the
king, who had listened attentively throughout, turned to
the storyteller and said : " Are 3'ou not curious to know,
Icelander, how I Hke the saga ? "
" I am afraid to ask," repHed the stor5^eller.
The king said : " I think you have told it very well.
Where did you get the material for it, and who taught it
to you ? "
The Icelander answered : " When in Iceland I used to
go every summer to the Thing, and each summer I learned
a portion of the saga from Halldor Snorrason."
" Then it is not surprising that you know it so well,
since you have learned it from him," said the king.
We may in fact see the origin of the Islendinga So gar
in certain passages of the sagas themselves. In Fostbroethra
Saga, for instance, the story is told of an Icelander named
Thormothr, who went to Greenland in order to avenge the
death of bis foster-brother Thorgeirr. On one occasion he
fell asleep in his booth, and when he awoke some time later
he found, to his surprise, that the place was quite deserted.
Then his sei-vant Egill " the fooUsh " came to him and
62 THE VIKING PERIOD
said : " You are too far off from a great entertainment."
Thormothr asked : " Where have you come from and
what is the entertainment ? "
Egill replied : " I have been to Thorgrimr Einarsson's
booth and most of the people who are attending the Thing
are there now."
Thormothr asked : " What form of amusement have
they ? "
Egill answered : " Thorgrimr is telHng a saga."
" About whom is the saga ? " asked Thormothr.
" That I do not know clearly," repHed Egill, " but I
know that he tells it well and in an interesting manner. He
is sitting on a chair outside his booth and the people are all
around him listening to the saga."
Thormothr said : " But 3^ou must know the name of
some man who is mentioned in the saga, especially since
you think it so entertaining."
Egill repHed : " A certain Thorgeirr was a great hero in
the saga, and I think that Thorgrimr himself must have
had some connection with it, and played a brave part in
it, as is most Hkely. I wish you would go there and Hsten
to the entertainment." 1
Then Thormothr and Egill went to Thorgrimr's booth
and stood close by Hstening to the saga, but they could not
hear it very distinctly. Thormothr had, however, under-
stood from Egill's remarks that this was the same
Thorgrimr who had slain his foster-brother and was now
recounting his exploits for the amusement of the crowd.
More famous is the scene in Njdls Saga where Gunnar
Lambi's son, who has just arrived at Earl Sigurthr's palace
iu the Orkneys is called upon to tell the story of the
burning of Nj all's homestead.
^Fostbroethra Saga, ch. 23.
LITERARY INFLUENCE 63
" The men were so pleased that King Sigtryggr [of Dublin]
sat on a high seat in the middle, but on either side of the
king sat one of the earls. . . . Now King Sitr^^ggr and Earl
Gille wished to hear of these tidings which had happened
at the burning, and so, also, what had befallen since.
Then Gunnarr Lambi's son, who had taken part in the
burning was got to tell the tale, and a stool was set for him
to sit upon.
. . . Now King Sigtryggr asked : " How did Skarphethinn
bear the burning ? "
" Well at first for a long time," said Gunnarr, " but still
the end of it was that he wept." And so he went on giving
an unfair bias to his story, but every now and then he
laughed aloud.
Kari (Kj all's friend who was Ustening outside) could
not stand this and he then ran in with his sword drawn . . .
and smote Gunnarr Lambi's son on the neck with such a
smart blow that liis head spun off on to the board before
the king and the earls.
"... Now Flosi undertook to tell the story of the Burning
and he was fair to all, and therefore what he said was
believed." 1
For the way in which such stories were preserved from
generation to generation we may refer to the end of
Droplaiigarsona Saga (Ljosvetninga) : " Thorvaldr (born c.
1006) son of Grimr " — one of the chief actors in the story —
" had a son called Ingjaldr. His son was named Thoi-valdr,
and he it was who told the story." ^
The passagee quoted from Njdla Saga and Fostbroethra
Saga seem to show that the art of story-telling was already
developed at the beginning of the eleventh centur3^ In these
^NjdlsSaga (by G. W. Daseut), cli.j. 153, 154.
^Droplatigarsona Saga (Ljosvetuiuga Saga), p. 175 [AusifiyLhinga
Soguy, ed. Jakobseu).
64 THE VlElNG PERIOD
instances, it is true, we have only the records of events given
by the actors themselves or by eyewitnesses, and we cannot
be certain that such stories had assumed anything like a
fixed form. Far more important is the passage from Haralds
Saga Hardrada,'^ for there the story-teller was not an eye-
witness, but had obtained the story, or the material for it,
from Halldor Snorrason, an Icelandic follower of King
Harald. From what is said about the length of the saga,
there can be no doubt that it had been worked up in a
very elaborate way. For such elaborate secondhand stories
we have no other definite evidence, but again, considering
the time which the recital is said to have occupied, it would
be unwise to conclude that this later form of the art was
entirely new.
We have, therefore, clearly to distinguish two stages in
the history of the oral saga ; (i) the story as told by some-
one who had taken part in the events described ; (ii) the
secondhand story. The story was soon embellished, especially
in the second stage, not merely with such devices as the
records of conversation, but even by the introduction of
imaginary adventures. Indeed we need not assume that
even in the first stage the stories were told in strict
accordance with fact. Reference may be made, for instance,
to the passage quoted above from Njdls Saga, where
Gunnarr Lambi's son is said to have told the story of the
burning unfairly. Even in the Islendinga and Konunga
Sogur fiction forms a not inconsiderable element : in the
Fornaldar Sogur it is ovbiously much greater.
Yet there is good reason for beheving that in the main
the Islendinga and Kominga Sogur are historical. This
may be seen by the general agreement between the various
^ See pp. Oo, Oi, ante.
LTTERABY INFLUENCE 65
sagas, since the same characters constantly reappear, and
there is little inconsistency with regard to their circumstances
or personal traits. Again, the description of houses, ships,
weapons, and other articles seems generally to correspond
to those known to date from the period to which the stories
refer. There is, moreover, one feature which points to a
more or less fixed tradition dating from the closing years
of the tenth century, namely, the attitude towards those
characters who figured prominently in the struggle between
Christianity and heathenism. Thus there are indications
that the rather unsympathetic representation of Harold
Greycloak and his brothers may be due to the fact that they
were Christians. Still more significant is the attitude of
the sagas towards Haakon the Bad, whose character seems
to undergo a great change — probably a reflection of the
change in the popular oi:)inion of Christianity.
Sagas like those of Egill and Kormak relating to the
middle or first part of the twelfth century are few in number
and usually contain a considerable amount of poetry ; in
fact, the prose is not infrequently based upon the poetry.
Stories deaHng with early Icelandic history from a.d. 874
onwards and Norwegian history of the same period are much
less full. In general the^^ appear to be trustworthy, but
the details are such as might have been preserved by local
or family tradition without the special faculty which is
characteristic of the sagas.
Of a totally different character are the sagas relating to
times before the settlement of Iceland (a.d. 874). Some
of these, such as Volstinga Saga and Hervarar Saga, deal
with events as far back as the fifth century, and are, to a
great extent, paraphrases of poems, many of which have
come down to us. Very frequently, too, whether based on
poems or not, the narrative bears the stamp of fiction. ^
* Cf . the references to Hromundar Sa§a, pp. 69, 70, ante.
G6 THE VIKING PERIOD
Conditions in Iceland were especially favourable to the
development of the art of story-telHng, owing partly to the
isolated position of the country itself and to the difficulties
of communication across the wide tracts of land separating
the various settlements within it, partly also to the love of
travel which characterised its inhabitants. In Icelandic
literature the recital of stories is mentioned in connection
with public meetings — such as the annual general assembly
[Althingi) — and with social gatherings at the "winter-
nights," the chief season for hospitaUty in Iceland, when
travellers had returned from abroad.
The Icelanders were famous, too, for the cultivation of
poetry. This art was evidently much practised in Norway
in early times, but we hear of hardly any Norwegian poets
after B3^vindr (c. 980), whereas in Iceland poetry flourished
for a considerable period after this. Icelandic poets were
received with favour not onl}^ in Norway, but elsewhere,
for instance, in England and Ireland. It has been stated
that sagas dealing with the early part of the tenth century
owe a good deal to poetry, while stories relating to times
earlier than the settlement of Iceland are often almost
entirely dependent on poetic sources. Moreover, the culti-
vation of poetry probably contributed very largel}^ to the
development of the facult^^ of story-telUng, and the two
arts may have been practised by the same person. On this
point, however, we have no precise information.
II.
Yet the remarkable fact that this faculty of story-telling
was peculiar to the Icelanders alone among the Teutonic
peoples still remains to be explained. It can hardly be
w^ithout significance that the only parallel in Europe for
such a form of Hterature is to be found in Ireland.
From the allusions to this type of composition in old
LITERARY INFLUENCE 67
Irish literature it would seem to have existed at a very-
early period ; so early, that its very origin is obscure. There
is, for example, mention of a king's " compan}^ of story
telleis " in the eight lines of satirical verse, said to have
been composed by the poet Cairbre on Bress, the niggardl}"
king of the Formorians.^
Stor^^-telhng was one of the many attractions of the great
aonachs or fairs which plaj^ed the same part in the national
life of Ireland as the things or popular assemblies in Iceland.
From the poem on the ancient fair of Carman preserved
in the Book of Ballymote, we can form an idea of the enter-
tainment provided by the professional storj'-teller : —
" The tales of Fianna of Erin, a never- wearying enter-
tainment : stories of destructions, cattle-preys, courtships,
rhapsodies, battle-odes, royal precepts and the truthfid
instructions of Fithil the sage : the wide precepts of Coirfic
and Cormac."^
The Book of Leinster states that the poet who had
^ The poem, is preserved in the Book of the Dun Cow (twelfth
century), but the form of the language in which it is written is
considerably earlier than this date ; indeed, the meaning of the
verses would be quite obscure if we did not possess explanatory
glosses.
Cf. D'Arbois de Jubainville : The Irish Mythological Cycle, p. 06
(Best's translation) : also D. Hyde : A Liierarv History of Ireland,
p. 285.
There is a possible reference to an Irish storyteller in an inscription
'on a stone cross at Bridgend (Glamorganshire). The inscription,
which is thought to date from the seventh century, runs : — ( Co)nhellim
possuit hanc CYucem pro anima eiiis Scitliuissi . . . Rh5's takes
scitlivissi to be an Irish word, a compound oiviss {Ir.fis, ' knowledge ')
and scitl {section , seel, a ' storj-,' ' news ') and surmises that
scitliviss might mean a ' messenger/ a ' bringer of news,' a * scout.'
(Cf. Celtic Britain, pp. 313-315.) But scitliviss can also be explained
as ' one who knows stories." In that case we might infer that story-
telling was a profession in Ireland as early as the .seventh century ;
but the reading appears to be too uncertain to justify us in attaching
any great importance to the inscription.
2 O'Curry ; ManngYS and Customs of the Ancient Irish. II., p. 543.
68 THE VIKING PEEIOD
attained the rank of ollamh was bound to know for recital
to kings and chieftains two hundred and fifty tales of prime
importance (prim-scela), and one hundred secondary ones.^
The same source gives the names of one hundred and
eighty-seven of these tales, the majority of which have not
come down to us. These include stories from the three
great cycles of legend, \dz., that relating to the gods ; to
Cuchulain and the warriors of the Red Branch, and to Finn
and Fianna. A number of stories relating to the kings of
Ireland mentioned in this Hst have an historical basis ;
while there are others purporting to deal with kings as far
back as looo B.C., which are no doubt partly imaginary,
and w^ere invented to arouse popular interest in the past
history of the country.
We know of several stories and poems about kings and
chieftains who played a prominent part in the wars against
the Vikings. The list in The Book of Leinster mentions
only one. The Love of Gormflaith for Niall (i.e., Niall
Glundubh (d. 919), a summary of which is contained in
the mediaeval English translation of The Annals of
Clonmacnois. In the case of The Victorious Career of
Cellachan of Cashel, it is difficult to say whether this was
originally an oral narrative committed to writing for the
first time in the fifteenth century, or whether it was copied
from an older manuscript, now lost. Brian Borumha and
liis sons are the principal characters in The Leeching of
Cian's Leg, a tale preserved in a sixteenth century manu-
script. 2 It is interesting to note here the presence of a
1 O'Curry : Lectures on the MS. Materials of Irish History, pp. 243,
583.
2 Printed in Silva Gadelica (ed. Standisli O'Grady), Vol. I., pp.
296-305.
Stories of Brian and his sons are still current in the Gaehc-speakiug
districts of Ireland. (See Zeitschrift fUr Celtische Philologie, Band I..
pp. 477-492.) They are, however, more likely to be folk tales, in
LITERAEY INFLUENCE 69
strong folk element which would seem to point towards
a popular, not a literary origin.
At the close of the tenth century story-telling was in
high favour in Ireland, and the professional storj^-teller
was able not onh' to recite any one of the great historical
tales, but to improvise, if the occasion arose. Mac Coisse,
the poet attached to the court of Maelsechnaill II., tells
in an interesting prose work how his castle at Clartha (Co.
Westmeath) was once plundered by the O'Neills of Ulster.
He immediately set out for Aileach in order to obtain
compensation from the head of the clan. King Domhnall
O'Neill (d. 978). On his arrival, he was received with great
honour and brought into the king's presence. In response
to Domhnall's request for a story, Mac Coisse mentioned
the names of a large number of tales including one called
The Plunder of the Castle of Maelmilscotach. This was the
only one with which the king was unfamiliar, so he asked
the stor3rteller to relate it. In it Mac Coisse described,
under the form of an allegory, the plundering of his castle
by the king's kinsmen. When he had finished he confessed
that he himself was Maelmilscotach^, and he begged the
king to grant him full restitution of his property. This
the king agreed to do, and the grateful poet then recited
a poem of eighteen stanzas which he had composed about
the king and his family. ^
which the deeds of mythical heroes have been transferred to historical
people, than sagas transmitted by oral tradition from generation to
generation,
"^i.e., "son of the honeyed words," a poet.
■ O'Curry : Manners and Customs of ths Ancient Irish, II., pp.
130-135-
70 THE VIKING PERIOD
III.
The resemblance which we have noted between Icelandic
and Irish customs seem to justify us in suggesting that they
may be due in part to some influence exercised by the one
people upon the other. There is in fact a certain amount
of evidence which renders such influence probable. We
know that Irish poets and storytellers were welcome guests
at the court of the Scandinavian kings in Ireland. In an
elegy on Mathgamain, Brian's brother, i one of the Munster
bards, says he finds it difficult to reproach the foreigners
because of his friendship with Dubhcena, Ivarr's son.*
And during the Hfetime of Brian, Mac Iviag, Brian's chief
poet, and Mac Coisse, poet and storyteller to Maelsechnaill
II., visited the court of Sigtryggr and remained there for
a whole year. On their departure they gave expression
to their feeHngs of regret in a poetical dialogue : —
Mac Liag : It is time for us to return to our homes,
We have been here a whole year ;
Though short to you and me may seem
This our sojourn in Dublin,
Brian of Banba deems it too long
That he Hstens not to my eloquence.*
Another poem of Mac Liag's, in which he addresses the
Scandinavians of Dublin as " the descendants of the
warriors of Norway," was also composed in Dublin, at the
court of ' Olaf of the golden shields,' soon after the battle
of Clontarf.*
^ Mathgamain was murdered at the instigation of King Ivarr of
Limerick in 976.
*War of the Gaedkil with the Gaill, pp. 98-99.
*0'Curry, op. cit., II., p. 128
* Ibid., II., p. 125.
LITEEAEY INFLUENCE 71
On the other hand Icelandic sources mention at least
three skdlds who made their way to Ireland during the
tenth century : Thorgils Orraskald, " who was with Olaf
Cuaran in Dubhn,^ and Kormak (Ir. Cormac) who fought
with Harold Greycloak in Ireland (c. 961). ^ In Gimnlaugs
Saga Ormstungu (ch. 8) there is a charming account of the
poet's reception in Dublin, shortly after Sigtryggr became
king (c. 994) : Gunnlaug went before the king and said :
" I have composed a poem about you, and I would Hke to
get a hearing for it."
The king answered : " No man has yet made a poem about
me, and I will certainly Hsten to yours."
Then Gunnlaug recited his poem in praise of " Cuaran's
son," and the king thanked him for it.
Sigtryggr then called his treasurer and asked : " How
shall I reward him for this poem ? "
" As you will, lord," replied the treasurer.
" Shall I give him two merchant-ships ? " asked the
king.
" That is too much," said the treasurer, " other kings
give, as rewards for songs, costly gifts, good swords or
gold rings."
So the king gave Gunnlaug his own garments of new
scarlet cloth, a tunic ornamented with lace, a cloak lined
with choice furs, and a gold ring which weighed a mark.
Gunnlaug remained for a short time there and then went
to the Orkneys.
It is to be noted, too, that among the original settlers
in Iceland there were a not inconsiderable number who
came from Ireland and the islands off the west coast of
Scotland. These included some of the most important
^ Landndmabok , I., ch. 19.
^ Kormak' s Saga, ch. 19.
72 THE VIKING PERIOD
families in the country. We may mention especially Authr,
widow of Olaf the White, king of Dublin, with her brothers
Ketill the Foolish, Bjom, Helgi Bjola and all their families
and dependants ;^ also Helgi the Lean who had been
brought up partly in the Hebrides, partly in Ireland,
Jorundr the Christian and Orlygr the Old.^ Not a few of
these were partly of Irish stock such as Helgi the Lean,
Askell Hnokkan and his brother Vilbaldr who were descen-
dants of Cearbhall, king of Ossory (d. 877). ^ Sometimes we
heal of settlers who were of pure GaeHc blood, Hke Kalman
(Ir. Colman) from the Hebrides,* and Erpr, son of a Scottish
earl Maelduin,^ and Myrgjol (Ir. Muirgheal), daughter of
GHomall, an Irish king.*
It has been urged ^ that the persons mentioned in the
Landndmabdk as coming from Ireland and Scotland form a
very small percentage of the whole number of settlers.
But we have to remember that by no means all the colonists
are mentioned in the records and genealogies. There can be
no doubt that a number of slaves and f reedmen accompanied
the more important settlers to Iceland, and of these probably
the great majority were of Celtic blood. Their numbers, too,
were being continually reinforced during the tenth century.
It is difficult, however, to estimate how many they were,
because in the case of thralls Icelandic names were not
infrequently substituted for Irish ones. Thus, of the Irish
thralls whom Hjorleifr brought to Iceland only one,
Dufthakr, had a Gaelic name.
1 Cf. Landndmabdk, II., ch. 16, etc.
^Landndmabdk, V., ch. 15.
8/6.. IV., ch. II.
*Ib., II.. ch. I.
6/6.. IL, ch. 16.
« lb., II., ch. 16.
' Finnur Jonsson, op. cit., II., pp. 187-188 (n) ; W. A. Craigie :
Zeitschrift fur Celtische Philologie, Band I., p. 441.
LITERARY INFLUENCE 73
Such slaves were not always people of humble origin.
Gilli (Ir. GioUa), the slave who killed Thorsteinn, son of
Hallr^ of Side, was a descendant of Cearbhall, king of Ossory.
Mention is made elsewhere of Nithbjorg, daughter of the
Irish king Biolan (Ir. Beollan) who was carried off from
Ireland in a Viking raid ;2 also of Melkorka, King
Myrkjartan's daughter, who was bought from a slave
dealer in Norway. ^ Icelandic custom did not necessarily
prevent the children of slave women from becoming persons
of wealth and influence ; indeed Osvifr, son of Nithbjorg
and Olaf Pai, son of Melkorka, were among the leading
men in Iceland in their time. It is not unreasonable, then,
to suppose that by the end of the tenth century Irish blood
had found its way into a large number of Icelandic famihes.
Lastly we may observe that the Irish and Icelandic
sagas bear certain resemblances to one another which are
at least worthy of attention. In both cases the narrative
prose is frequently interspersed with poetry, and in both
the use of dialogue is a prominent feature. Nor is the subject
matter dissimilar. Indeed it is possible to apply to the Irish
stories a classification roughly similar to that which is
adopted for the more important of the Icelandic sagas.*
As far as the " stories of the kings " are concerned, the
resemblance is most striking in the case of sagas relating
to early times such as Ynglinga Saga. There are Irish
stories, too, corresponding to a certain extent to the
Islendinga Sogur, though they are comparatively few in
^ " This Gilli was the son of Jathguth, who was the son of Gilli,
son of Bjathach (Ir. Blathach), son of King Kjarval of Ireland."
( Thovsten's Saga Sithu — Hallssonay, appendix. ' Draumr Thorsieins
Siduhalssonar, Asmundarson's Kd., pp. 26, 27.
^Landmmabok, II., ch. 11.
3 Cf. p. ante.
* Cf . p. 66, ante.
74 THE VIKING PERIOD
number, while many of the Fornaldar Sogar may be said
to bear a certain resemblance to the Irish epic stories.
The evidence discussed above seems to afford some ground
for suspecting that the saga Hterature of Iceland and
Ireland may not be wholly unconnected, and, as we have
seen, the conditions of the time, particularly the frequent
intercourse between the two countries, were such as to
favour the exercise of hterary influence by one people upon
the other. If so, one can hardly doubt that in this case the
influence came to Iceland from Ireland.
We have seen^ that the prose saga appears to have
developed in Iceland in the course of the tenth century.
There are indeed narratives relating both to the settlement
of Iceland and to still earlier events in Norway. But these,
in so far as they can be regarded as trustworthy traditions —
not embellished by fiction in later times — are quite brief,
and not far removed from such local or family traditions
as one could find in other parts of the world. The detailed
and elaborate type of story which we dealt with in Section I.,
and which is the distinctive feature of Icelandic literature,
can hardly be traced back beyond the end of the tenth
century.
The prose stories of Ireland, on the other hand, are without
doubt much earlier. Although we have few MSS. of Irish
prose dating from a period before the twelfth century,
yet it is generally agreed that many of the forms preserved,
e.g., in the Yellow Book of Lecan MS. of the Tain Bo Cualnge
must be derived from an earher MS. of not later than the
seventh or early eighth century. The oral saga in Ireland
is therefore of great antiquity.
It may, of course, be argued that if the prose saga arose
spontaneously in Ireland, there is no reason why it should
1 Cf. p. 63 ante.
LITERARY INFLUENCE 75
not also have arisen independently in Iceland. But the
existence of this form of literature in Ireland may be due
to special circumstances for which Iceland offers no parallel.
The oldest Irish sagas belong to that class of Hterature
known as the heroic epic, a class which among the Teutonic
peoples — as indeed among all other European peoples —
makes its first appearance in verse. The exceptional treat-
ment of this subject in Irish is all the more remarkable in
view of the fact that among the Celtic peoples the file or
professional minstrel occupied a distinguished position in
society. It would be strange if the professional minstrel were
not primarily concerned with herqic epic poetr}' in Ireland
as in other countries, since in the times to which our records
refer the recitation of the heroic prose epics was one of the
chief functions of the file.
On the other hand, we know nothing of the ancient forms
of Irish poetry. The earliest poems that have come down to
us have a metrical form which is not native. EarHer than
these — ^in the fifth and sixth centuries — ^there is evidence
for the cultivation of " rhetorics," or metrical prose, but
this too appears to be of foreign origin. ^ The unique feature
in Irish hterature, namely, the fact that the earl}^ epic, as
it has come down to us, appears in prose instead of poetry
may be due, at least in part, to the disappearance of native
metrical forms before the fifth centur3^ It may be that the
prose epics originated in paraphrases of early poems such
as we find, for instance, in the Volsunga Saga, which is a
paraphrase of older poems deahng with the story of Sigurthr.
Or the change may have been more automatic, the outcome
of a process of metrical dissolution similar to that of which
the beginnings may be seen in certain Anglo-Saxon and
German poems. Such metrical dissolution would be favoured,
*See Kuno Meyer : Learning in Ireland in the Fifth Century
(Dublin, 191 3).
76 THE VIKING PEEIOD
if not necessitated, by the extensive phonetic changes
which took place in Ireland in the fifth century. But into
this question it is not necessary to enter here. It is sufficient
to point out that Irish Saga literature, according to all
appearances, began in the heroic epic, a form which in all
other literatures, including Norse, originated in poetry.
The preservation of poetry, narrative or other, by oral
tradition is a common enough phenomenon among many
peoples, but the traditional prose narrative, except in such
primitive forms as folk-tales, is very rare. Since we find
it both in Ireland and Iceland — and apparently in no other
European countries — and since we have found so many
other connections between these two countries, the theory
that the Icelandic Saga owes its origin, however indirectly,
to the Irish Saga, seems to deserve more serious consideration
from scholars than it has yet received.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
I.
Annals of Clonmacnois, ed. by Rev. D. J. Murphy. Dublin, 1896.
Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters (Vols. I. and
II.), ed. by J. O'Donovan, Dublin, 1856.
Three Fragments of Irish Annals, ed. by J. O'Donovan. Dublin,
i860.
Annals of Tigernach, ed. by Whitley Stokes (Revue Celtique, XVI.;
XVII.). Paris, 1895.
Annals of Ulster (Vol. I.); ed. by W. M. Hennessy. Dublin, 1887.
Black Book of Limerick, ed. by J. MacCaffrey. Dublin, 1907.
Book of Rights (Leabhar na gceart), ed. by J. O'Donovan. Dublin,
1847.
Brennu-Njdlssaga, ed. by Finnur J6nsson. Halle a S., 1908.
The Story of Burnt Njal, translated by Sir G. W. Dasent. London,
1861.
(Several subsequent editions.)
Caithriim Cellachain Caisil : The Victorious Career of Cellachan of
Cashel, ed. by A. Bugge. Christiania, 1905.
Chronicon Scotorum, ed. by W. M. Hennessy. London, 1866.
Cogadh Gaedheal re Gallaibh ( The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill)
ed. by J. H. Todd. London, 1867.
Eyrhyggja Saga, ed. by H. Gering. Halle a S., 1897.
(English translation by E. Magniisson and William Morris,
London, 1892).
Fornaldar Sogtiv, ed. by C. C. Rafn. Copenhagen, 1829-30.
Fornmanna Sogur. Copenhagen, 1825-1837.
Fdstbroethra Saga, ed. by V. Asmundarson, Reykjavik, 1899.
Gunnlaugs Saga Ormstungu, ed. by V. Asmundarson. Reykjavik,
1911.
Heimskringla, ed. by C. R. linger. Christiania, 1868.
Kormaks Saga, ed. by V. Asmundarson. Reykjavik, 1893.
Landndmabok. ed. by V. Asmundarson. Reykjavik, 1909.
(Enghsh translation by Rev. T. KUwood. Kendal, 1898.)
77
78
THE VIKING PERIOD
On the Fomorians and the Norsemen (Duald Mac Firbis), ed. by
A. Bugge. Christiania, 1905.
Origines Islandicae, ed. by G. Vigfusson and F. York Powell.
Oxford, 1905.
Orkneyinga Saga, ed. and tr. by J. Anderson. Edinburgh, 1873.
Also tr. by Sir G. W. Dasent for the Rolls Series. London, 1894.
Stiirlunga Saga, ed. by G. Vigfusson. Oxford, 1878.
Thorsteins Saga Siihu-Hallssonar, ed. by V. Asmundarson.
Reykjavik, 1902.
Two of the Saxon Chronicles (Parallel), 2 Vols., ed. by Earle and
Plummer. Oxford, 1892 and 1899.
Bugge, A.
CoUingwood, W. G.
Craigie, W. A.
Du Chaillu, P. B.
Henderson, G.
J6nsson, F. ...
Joyce, P. W.
Keary, C. F.
Kermode, P. M. C.
Marstrander, C.
Mawer, A.
Mogk, B.
O'Ciury, E. ...
II.
Contributions to the History of the Norsemen
in Ireland. Christiania, 1900.
Vesterlandenes Indflydelse paa Nordboernes
i Vikingetiden. Christiania, 1905.
Scandinavian Britain. London, 1908.
The Icelandic Sagas. Cambridge, 1913.
The Viking Age, 2 Vols. London, 1889.
The Norse Influence on Celtic Scotland.
Glasgow, 19 10.
Old Nor she Litteraturs Historie, also
(abridged). Copenhagen, 1907.
A Social History of Ancient Ireland,
2 Vols. Dublin, 191 3.
The Vikings in Western Christendom.
London, 1891.
Manx Crosses. London, 1907.
Bidrag til det Norske Sprogs Historie i
Irland. Christiania, 191 2.
The Vikings. Cambridge, 191 3.
Geschichte der Norwegisch-Isldndischen
Literatur. Strassburg, 1904.
On the Manners and Customs of the Ancient
Irish (ed. by W. K. SuUivan). London, 1873.
Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of
Ancient Irish History. Dublin. 1861.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
79
Steenstrup, J.C. H. R
Stokes, G. T.
Vogt, L. J
Normannerne (Vols. II. and III.). Copen-
hagen, 1876-82.
Ireland and the Celtic Church (revised by
H. J. Lawlor). London. 1907.
Dublin som Norsk By. Christiania, 1896.
The Whole Works of Sir James Ware concerning Ireland, 2 Vols,
(translated and continued by W. Harris). JDublin, 1764.
Worsaae, J. J. A. ... Minder om de Danske og Nordmaendene i
England, Skotland og Irland. Copen-
hagen, 1 85 1.
(EngHsh translation: An Account of the Danes and Norwegians in
England, Scotland and Ireland. London, 1852.)
Zimmer, H. ... ... The Celtic Church in Britain and Ireland,
(translated by A. Meyer). London, 1902.
Reference has also been made to the following articles : —
Bugge, A. .,
Craigie, W. A
Curtis, B.
Hull, E.
Mawer, A.
Stokes, W.
Zimmer, H.
Nordisk Sprog og Nordisk Nationalitet i
Irland (Aarboger for Nordisk Old-
kyndighed og Historie, 1900, pp. 279-332).
Bidrag Bidet Sidste Afsnit af Nordboernes
Historie i Irland ibid., 1904. pp. 248-315.
Oldnordiske Ord i de Gaeliske Sprog (Archiv
for Nordisk Filologi. 1894.)
The English and the Ostmen in Ireland
(English Historical Review, XXIII., p.
209 ff.)
Irish Episodes in Icelandic Literature (Saga
Book of the Viking Club. January, 1903.)
The Gael and the Gall : Notes on the Social
Condition of Ireland during the Norse
Period. {Ibid. April, 1908.)
The Scandinavian Kingdom of Northumbria.
Ibid. January, 191 1.
A few Parallels between the Old Norse and
the Irish Literatures and Traditions (Arkiv
for Nordisk Filologi. 1885.)
Ueber die friihesien Beriihrungen der Iren
init den Nordgermanen. (Sitzungsberichte
der Kgl. Preussichen Akademie der
Wissenschaften, Bd. I., pp. 279-317.
Berlin, 1891.)
80 THE VIKING PERIOD
INDEX.
Aedh Finnliath, 10, 15.
Albann, brother of Ivarr the Boneless, 4.
Albdann. son of Gothfrith, 22 n.
Altar-ring, 53, 54.
aonach, 30, 67.
Armagh, 21-22, 48, 52, 55.
Art, Scandinavian influence on Irish, 20.
Authr, wife of Olaf the White, 15, 48, 72 ; \vife of Turgeis, 47.
Brian Borumha, 7-8, 29, 37-38.
Brunanburh, battle of, 6, 24.
Burial moimds, 12.
Canterbury, 55-56.
Carlingford I/)ugh, battle of, 3. 13, 50-51.
Cearbhall, king of Ossory, 13-15, 50, 72, 73.
Cellachan, king of Cashel, 26, 36-37.
Chester, siege of, 12,
Clontarf, battle of, 8-9, 54.
Colla, 25.
Cork, 27, 30.
Danes, 2-4, 12, 13, 24-27, 50-1.
dom-hvingy, 53-4.
Dublin, fortress built at, 2 ; seat of Scandinavian kings, 3, 5-7 ;
Vikings driven from, 5 ; coins minted in, 19 ; early history,
21-3; as a trade centre, 30-1, 70-1.
epscop, 29.
Kric Blood-axe, 7.
Fingal, 8.
Finn Gaill. 3 n.
INDEX 81
GaiU-Gaedhil, 10-11, 38.
gelt, 44.
Gleann Mama, battle of, 8, 30, 54.
Glttniarainn, 17-8.
Gnimcinnsiolla, 27.
Gormflaith, wife of Brian Borumha, 8, 17, 54 ; wife of Niall
Glundubh, m.
Gothfrith, king of Dublin, 6, 24.
Heathenism, 47-8. 50-4.
Hebrides, 17, 25, 36, 41 «., 48-9.
Iceland, 13 w., 8, 57-8, QQ, 71.
Ivarr the boneless, 3-4, 11, 48 ; king of Hmerick, 7, 24, 70 n.,
king of Waterford, 18.
Ketill Flatnose, 48-9; KetUl " the fooHsh," 49, 72.
Kilmashogue, battle of, 5.
lagmainn, 41.
Lambey, 1.
Limerick, 7, 9, 23-5, 30-1.
longphort, 2, 34, 35.
Mac liag, 70
Maelsechnaill I (Malachy), 2, 11 ; Maelsechnafli H, 7-8, 17, 70,
Melkorka, 16. 31, 73.
Morann, son of the king of I^ewis, 25.
Mnirchertach of the I^eather Cloaks, 6, 16-7,
Niall Glundubh, 5, 68.
Norsemen, passim.
Northumbria, 5-7.
Norway, 4, 16, 32, 59.
Olaf Cuaran (Sihtricsson), 6-7, 17, 34, 40, 53, 71 ; Godfreyson,
6, 26 ; Olaf the White. 3-4, 11-2, 15, 48 ; Tryg\asson, 13-4.
Ostmen, 9, 26.
Ota, wife of Turgeis, 2, 47,
82 THE VIKING PERIOD
Place-names, Scandinavian influence on Irish, 27-8 ; Irish
influence on Icelandic, 45-6.
prime-signing, 75.
Raghnall, grandson of Ivarr, 5, 25.
Runic inscriptions, 27 n., 51-2.
Settlers in Iceland, 13 w., 71, 72.
Sihtric Silken Beard, 8, 19, 34, 54-5, 70.
Sigurd, earl of Orkney, 8, 15 n.
Slave traffic, 32-3, 72-3.
Story-telling in Iceland, 58-64 ; in Ireland, 67-9.
Sulcoit, battle of, 7.
Tengmoiith, 22 n.
thing, 22, 61, 67.
Turgeis, 1-2, 21, 23.
Waterford, 5, 9, 23, 25-6, 30.
Wexford, 22, 23, 30.
volva, 47.
York, 5, 6, 23.
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